John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for being here for the debate. We do not always have a senior Minister for our debates. This is an important issue, and I thank the Labour Party for raising it. It will become an even bigger issue in the next couple of years, and it is proper that we discuss it in the Seanad tonight. I do not always agree with what the Minister says, but I concur fully with her position with regard to the religious ethos of schools. I have a particular interest in this as I am a member of the board of management of my local primary school, which is a Catholic-established school, although there are students who are not Catholics and do not belong to any religious faith.

The system as it operates very successfully for the overwhelming majority of students around the country. The network of national schools has served the country well. However, there are a number of areas which are under pressure. This was highlighted recently in north and west Dublin, but there are also towns elsewhere, in areas where there have been significant levels of development, whose schools are having problems with regard to spaces. The enrolment policies held by national schools usually do not come into play, but they do when there is a sheer lack of space. The Government has a serious case to answer in this regard.

I acknowledge that there has been significant investment in national schools. Despite this investment, I could list half a dozen schools in my area which are still seeking extensions or new school buildings, but progress has been made. The Labour Party motion does not state this has not happened, but it points out that there are difficulties in particular areas. The Government should have a clearer plan for solving these difficulties in the future. Some areas have large numbers of new houses, residents and pupils, and we cannot allow the problems that developed at the start of this school year to become a regular occurrence, as has the issue of school bus tickets, which occurs at the start of every school year. We cannot allow a similar situation with regard to primary school places.

The Minister's comments contain an element of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. An unprecedented number — hundreds of thousands — of new housing units have been built across the country. People have mentioned Adamstown, which I am sure is a wonderful place, although I have never been there. A couple of other well planned communities have also sprung up in the past few years. Sadly, however, there are many more areas that have not been planned as well as Adamstown, where sufficient educational facilities have not been provided. They have not been allowed for in the building of huge new housing estates.

In a previous life, I was a member of a local authority. In my own area, there was a significant problem with a school in Rosbercon, which is one of those unusual areas which is almost in County Kilkenny but is actually in County Wexford, although we claim it nonetheless for Kilkenny. The school in question has not had a playground for a number of years because the prefabs have taken over the yard. The multi-purpose room is now divided into three classrooms. Four years ago, when I was on Kilkenny County Council, we zoned a site for a new school. Because all of the built-up area is in New Ross, County Wexford, the only area for potential growth is in the Kilkenny end. However, there is no danger I can see, although I have lobbied long and hard, that a new school will be built there. To place the blame on local authorities is incorrect, because in many places they have zoned lands for educational facilities, although there are many areas in which they have not. The response from the Government has been insufficient.

Parents have the right to choose the school their children will attend. The overwhelming majority of parents, as far as I have established, want their children to go to a school of a particular denomination. The largest Church of Ireland boarding school in the country, Kilkenny College, is in my constituency. Schools have every right to protect their ethos and give preference to siblings of existing students and to members of their particular faiths. This is right and proper. People of many faiths attend Kilkenny College, which is a brilliant school. Similarly, parents who wish to send their children to primary schools of a particular faith should have that right. However, the kernel of the problem is not the ethos of the school. It is that in situations such as we have seen, of which there will be more in the future, there is not enough space available. The Government, the Minister and the Department need to ensure sufficient places are provided in those areas for students to attend primary school.