James Bannon (Fine Gael)

The students feel that a move to St. Angela's will deprive them of a real third level campus experience.

St. Catherine's College has operated under the ownership of the Dominican Order for the past 90 years and we must not forget the immense debt of gratitude we owe the nuns for their valuable work. We must also remember that the nuns have invested a significant amount of time and money in the college. Can we let that investment go to waste?

We have all received letters from constituents, concerned students, parents, teachers and past pupils of St. Catherine's earnestly asking us to save this college. With current lifestyles, young people need to be educated to be responsible and well informed in their dietary and exercise choices. Last year, 15,000 students sat the leaving certificate examination in home economics, far higher numbers than in physics or chemistry. The demand for this course exists so we must provide the teachers to meet that demand.

When Deputy Noel Dempsey was asked to reconsider his decision on the closure and to meet the board of the college, he sent it a letter stating that the decision was final and there was no point having a further meeting on the matter. His door was closed, as it was when he decided to close St. Joseph's secondary school in Newtownforbes, County Longford. There is significant demand for facilities in this area and it will come back to haunt the Minister because there is a shortage of secondary school places in County Longford. I hope she will be willing to meet teachers, parents' groups and school boards of management. To do otherwise would be a bad start to her tenure as Minister for Education and Science. I look forward to meeting her to discuss Lanesborough Community College. I am sure she is aware of the shortage of funding and will deal with the issue.