Tom Morrissey (Progressive Democrats)

My reason for tabling this motion is that Castleknock Educate Together school has experienced tough beginnings in temporary places of accommodation over the past four or five years. Thankfully, within the last three years it has been provided with proper temporary accommodation on a school site at Beechpark in Castleknock. That school site was bought in 1981 and there is a long history surrounding the location of a school there. Castleknock Educate Together is being located on the site in temporary accommodation. The temporary permission was given by Fingal County Council two years ago on the express understanding that this would be the site for a permanent school. That was not surprising given that the county council in the late 1990s, when I was a member, changed the development plan from housing to amenity. This was to ensure houses would not be built on the land and that it would be reserved for a school site.

In 2000 the county council compiled a list of all permanent, temporary and reserved school sites throughout the Dublin 15 area. This listed Beechpark as a reserved school site. However, on seeking information recently for an additional classroom, Castleknock Educate Together was advised that the location would not be considered as a site for a permanent school. This has thrown the parents, children and teachers into shock and disarray. The school had been temporarily accommodated in Laurel Lodge and then had to move to the Navan Road. At long last it found a home at Beechpark and now it is being told by the county council that this is not suitable as a permanent site.

I am sure this will come as news to the Department of Education and Science which has owned the site since 1981. There have been three development plans in the area during that time, all of which have allowed for a school on this site. If this is not now going to be the site for a permanent school, which the Government has provided for under the school building programme with tenders to be invited for a permanent building later this year, the Department has a serious problem as have the parents. Where will the Department find a permanent site? I hope tabling this motion will make the telephones ring in Fingal County Council and that answers will be forthcoming as to why this situation has come about at this late stage.

The building comprises a two-storey development at present. Some 260 children are in the school and a further 60 are enrolled for next September. Supporting the case for Castleknock Educate Together to be recognised for permanent status is the fact it has a five-year enrolment programme undertaken over the past couple of years to prove to the Department that it has some permanency in the area. I hope the Minister of State in his reply will allay the fears of the school's management and parents about the statement made by Fingal County Council.