Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I very much appreciate the Minister being here in person to address this issue. He will be well aware of the geographical area related to this issue as it is in his constituency. I was involved in a campaign to establish an Educate Together school in the Drumcondra area, and one of first actions the Minister took on taking office was to sanction the approval of that Educate Together primary school in Dublin 3 in the Marino-Drumcondra area. The campaign to establish that school was elongated and it took a long time to get it off the ground but it was successful. There are some long-established Educate Together schools in the more northern end of the constituency, which the Minister knows very well, in an area where a major degree of construction is taking place and where there has been major growth in the population. The people in that area will need a number of facilities, including school facilities.

In terms of Educate Together schooling, in line with the vision of the previous Government and, I hope, with that of the Minister, he will be familiar with the Educate Together schools in Kilbarrack and in Belmayne. We are asking that there would be a logical continuum of that ethos of education for the children who attend those schools. There has been a metamorphosis in the ethos of one second level school, Clonturk community college, into a new type of school with joint patronage. What we hope to achieve in Dublin 13, which covers a number of areas, including Clongriffin, Belmayne, Donaghmede, Baldoyle and Sutton, is that a new Educate Together would be established to facilitate those children, living in the area of rapid population, who attend an Educate Together school to have a continuum of that ethos of education, which is available to every other schoolchild attending other schools in the area. No other children in that area attending another school is asked to change the ethos of his or her schooling when he or she moves from primary to second level. If a child attends a Gaelscoil, there is facility for him or her to attend a second level Gaelscoil. If a child attends a Catholic ethos school, he or she can continue that ethos at second level. That is not available to children who attend an Educate Together primary school.

While it is appreciated that the Department of Education and Skills has made great strides in recent years in increasing the number of Educate Together schools that are available for parents who want that ethos for their children's education, it does not make any sense for that to stop once a child reaches sixth class. While the growth in this type of education is greatly appreciated, the parents and members of the committee involved, some of whom are in the Public Gallery, want to know what process they can pursue and how they can work with Government and the Department to make this a reality. This campaign does not necessarily need to be fractious or full of tension or friction. We want to achieve the establishment of an educational institution that the children can have to continue their education in the ethos chosen - as is a constitutional right - by their parents. I ask the Minister to outline where those involved in the campaign are to go next. These children attend an Educate Together school at primary level, or some of them do not. They live in an area that is under major development. They need a process whereby they can work with the Minister and his Department to arrive at a stage where they will be able to have a new education facility available to them. Nobody can convince me, and I am sure the Minister would agree with me, that this area will not need extra school places in the years to come. What we want is fair play. There have been moves across the city and the country with respect to the opening up of second level education. Often it is easier to open up a primary school rather than a second level school, but in areas of north County Dublin there are various different models, including community school models. I am mindful of the Malahide area where the Educate Together model has been approved by the Department because it is seen as providing a continuum of education which is necessary for the children concerned.