Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing the Commencement matter I have tabled. It is a pressing and urgent matter that needs to be heard by the Minister for Education and Skills and his officials. It relates to a school I attended, St. Declan's community college in Kilmacthomas, which serves the entire mid-County Waterford area.

Established as a vocational school in the 1970s, St. Declan's college is one of the huge success stories of the vocational educational system. It has been successful across many areas, including academia, vocations in jobs, in producing graduates and high performance in sports. The school will participate in an all-Ireland colleges football final on Saturday against a school from Ardee in County Louth. The school also produces excellent graduates who go into technology and engineering throughout the region and indeed the country. I am very proud of the school and the vocational educational system should also be very proud of it.

Unfortunately, it is now a victim of its own success. Student numbers have risen steadily since it was established. Credit for this is due to the current and former principals, and the current and former staff of the school. Today I think of people like my former teachers, Seán Ahern and Jim Timmins, who were teachers, and deputy principal and principal at the school. Unfortunately both of them have now gone to their eternal rest. They would be very proud to see the school's present success.

For the coming school year in September 2018 more than 170 applications for enrolment have been made. The school normally enrols 120 students each year. Over recent years it has projected increases and in 2015 it applied for additional accommodation. The school has gone to enormous lengths to accommodate the additional applications this year and 150 students have been accepted for September 2018. However, that leaves 21 students and their parents very concerned and frustrated because they have not been accepted even though they come from immediate feeder schools.

Almost ten of those students come from Kilmacthomas primary school which is next door to the secondary school. A few more come from Newtown national school, which is only 5 km up the road and more come from Kill national school. The nearest alternative secondary school for any of these students is 20 km away, which would mean longer days, costly bus trips and all the other issues associated with ferrying students to and from school. It is causing enormous stress to the students.

I am asking for the Minister of State's support for my request that the Department of Education and Skills provide the urgent additional accommodation to meet the needs of the school, now and for the years ahead. It is a successful school. It deserves support on merit. I hope I will get good news this morning that the school will receive funding for the additional accommodation so that all the students who live in the area, some of them attending primary school right next door, get the support they need and can access the school in September.