Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator McDowell for his comments. It is important that there is no silo thinking, especially when we are talking about education. The Senator appreciates the fact that an Educate Together national school will go into the old Rathmines DIT site from August, and that eventually a post-primary school will go in there also. There is no other place to put these particular schools, and this is the plan from the Department of Education's perspective. A collaborative aspect that would involve all the different Departments, including those overseen by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, and the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, who the Senator said is enthusiastic about the performance space aspect, can be considered. It also applies to the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin. It is a real shame when an establishment such as the Rathmines College of Further Education does not have sufficient capacity and is limited. There must be a way to work towards a solution and if everybody puts their minds together, something fruitful could come out of it.