David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and the office of the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this topic and the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, for responding. I am disappointed the Minister will not be here. I understand she is busy. This issue arises because in the last while, my colleagues and I have received phone calls from worried parents whose prospective first-year students have no place in September. The schools in east Cork are all full, with waiting lists. I raised this a number of times and received a response from the Minister advising me of what is going to be done in the future and the kind of process that is in place to figure out the numbers that will be there. She talked about what might be the case, such as duplication of applications, schools of choice, small towns, some towns having single-sex schools, external draw, all of which is being examined.

While I pay tribute to all the principals who have worked hard, we are at a point where a number of students now have no place in September. Parents ring me. Will the Minister consider the position of a 12-year-old boy or girl who does not have a place but all their friends have places and are getting their uniforms and books, getting organised, but this person has nowhere to go? In one particular instance, a parent was asked to consider home schooling. Another parent was advised to travel 30 miles to a school. That is just not possible. The other issue is, as I have said on previous occasions, we probably need some kind of central applications system to deal with this. I know that was tried in Limerick and seemed to be in some way successful. Parents will apply to every school because they are afraid of getting no place. At the start of the year, in my area there might be a waiting list with 200 or 300 on it. This is crazy. That whittles away. We are now down to a core group of people. The principals know at this stage that they have no places. There are also people on the waiting lists who we know have places in other schools and they are holding out because they want to go to their school of choice. That is understandable but at least they have a place. I am worried about the others. Has contact been made with the schools recently? I have written to the Minister about this. Does the Minister know exactly how many have no place? What will the Department do for September? What will the Minister of State this morning tell the parents and their children, who are all listening, about this? Can a place be guaranteed for September for these young people? Will the Minister put in place for the future some form of system to avoid us being here talking about this year after year?

At this stage, east Cork needs another second-level school. Thankfully the housing situation is going well. There are many applications and hundreds of houses are being built. We have new schools, in fairness, and extensions. However, how big should a school become? Some of these schools are now heading for 1,300 students. That is very big. We are reaching the stage where we need to be planning ahead to build yet another school given the fact that the area is expanding so much.

I also suggest, if the departmental officials are listening in here, that a person being put on a waiting list is a de facto refusal, and such people should be advised of the right to appeal to the board of management. That does not happen in every case. They should also be advised of the right after that, if they still do not have a place, to appeal to the Department under section 29 and that is not being done. If that is not being done within a certain period, they may also run the risk of losing the right to school transport. That also has to be done.

Principals should be mandated by the Department to advise parents of their right where, if they are put on a waiting list, that it is a de facto refusal as there is not a place at that time and that they also have a right to appeal.

I furthermore believe that we should have a central application system, either locally or nationally, whereby someone who accepts a place in a school is taken off every other list.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle agus leis an Teachta freisin as an ábhar seo a ardú. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Education and it gives the Department of Education a chance to set out to the House the position with regard to post-primary school places in east Cork for September 2023 and onwards.

As the Deputy knows, the Department of Education divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a geographical information system to anticipate school place demand. It identifies a range of information sources, including child benefit, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity. Having considered the projected requirements in each of these school planning areas, the Department then makes an assessment of the existing capacity within this particular area and its ability to meet any increased demand.

Where our data indicate that additional provision is required at primary or post-primary level, the delivery of such additional provision is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may be provided through a combination of means such as utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools, extending the capacity of schools or the provision of new schools.

In the case of east Cork, the Department's projections show an anticipated continued growth in enrolments in the short to medium term. While the Department is aware of increasing pressures and demand for additional school places, as the Deputy has noted, enrolment pressures may not be fully due to a lack of accommodation but may also be driven by other factors, including the duplication of applications; schools of choice; some towns or areas having single-sex schools in which places are available but which are not available to all pupils; and pupils coming from outside the local area.

The Minister is aware of pressures at post-primary level in east Cork, and in particular the Midleton and Carrigtwohill school planning area referred to by the Deputy. She is working to establish the true extent of capacity issues across the school planning area through ongoing discussions with the relevant school patrons and authorities. Engagement began in October 2022 with a view to getting a clear picture of the number of unique additional places required. The Department is reliant on getting clear data from the schools in a prompt manner and is continuing to engage with the schools and patrons. Officials from the Department will be addressing the issue with each of the patrons this week with a view to finding a workable solution to ensure no student is without a place for September 2023. This close engagement is allowing the Department to identify particular capacity requirements for the forthcoming years and whether any further actions are required in addition to those already in train, including the provision of modular accommodation solutions.

In light of the continuing growth in enrolments, as the Deputy may be aware, the Department is already progressing a number of building projects in east Cork under the national development plan, which includes projects at post-primary schools. These include a project at Carrigtwohill Community College to deliver a new, modern 1,000-pupil permanent school building and this project is currently on-site. There will also be an extension at St. Colman's Community College, Midleton, which has been recently completed to cater for up to 1,000 pupils. A number of large school building projects are also in train to cater for similar numbers of pupils. These include expanded capacity at Midleton CBS. Secondary School and St. Mary's High School, Midleton. In addition, St. Aloysius’ College, Carrigtwohill will expand to cater for 1,000 pupils, Pobalscoil na Tríonóide, Youghal, will expand to cater for 1,200 pupils, and Coláiste Mhuire and Carrignafoy Community College, both in Cobh, will expand to cater for 600 and over 700 pupils, respectively.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his very positive response and the Department who prepared the response for him. I note, in particular, that he said that officials from his Department will be addressing the issue with each of the patrons this week with a view to finding a workable solution to ensure that no students will be without a place for September 2023.

I warmly welcome that commitment but the only problem is that I understand that the schools are on holidays at the moment and are closed. I just hope that they have been acting on this because I have been flagging this for quite a while.

This brings light to the bigger question here, where we are facing this issue every single year. We need a situation where if a parent accepts a place in one school, the child is removed from the waiting list in all other schools. Whether one uses personal public service numbers, PPSNs, or whatever I do not know, but it would certainly help the problem if the parent were told that initially.

There is also the right to appeal and parents are not aware of that either. The Department is scrambling to find out what the true figure is but if the right to appeal was there, the section 29 appeals would then be in the Department and it would know exactly how many students were then without places because those parents would have appealed the fact that their children did not have a place in a school.

I must also again pay tribute to the principals and the staff in all of the schools who work so hard. I note that Carrigtwohill post-primary school, which I believe will be open at Christmas time, is already full and at capacity and is currently in temporary accommodation. This brings me back to the other point which I wanted to make this morning, which is about the need for another second level school in east Cork. I said this here last week and I point to the fact that there is a large Educate Together primary school in Midleton with, I believe, 700 students. There is a growing demand for that kind of school in the area. If another school will be built in east Cork, and I believe it should, we know that it took the school in Carrigtwohill 12 years to be built from inception to the present and, as I have already said, we hope that it will be open around Christmas time.

The need for another school is very important in this area, as it is a growing one with many houses being built in east Cork. It is close to the city and, as I see that the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has joined us, I will mention that there will be a battery-operated rail line very soon, which will run every ten minutes. That will also be really good. There are a number of issues here, therefore, that need to be addressed.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I believe the Department and the Deputy are at one in this regard. There is an ambitious and extensive capital investment programme occurring in east Cork at the moment and will be the envy of many areas in the country in respect of the size of the schools I outlined earlier.

In fairness to management and to school principals, they are still working behind closed doors right across the country, including in east Cork, and I am pretty sure that the engagement the Department is having around numbers for September is continuing regardless of whether holidays are ongoing or not. The Minister has made a clear commitment with regard to this September and to the availability of school places.

The Deputy has made some good proposals around a CAO-type system for enrolments that I will bring to the Minister’s attention.

Finally, as I have not dealt with Deputy Stanton in the Chamber since he announced his intention to move to another phase of life, I wish him health and happiness. Hopefully, we will be here for some time yet in this House together but I wish him good luck in the next phase of his life.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for gaining me time.