Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy Leader for being here this morning to listen to us. Education can be a great leveller in society. It can help to break down inequalities, raise people up and provide opportunities for employment and skills. Education can be a game changer in people’s lives through helping them to reach their full potential. Education can also be a game changer in the life of a community. It can empower a community, it can show value and value all members of a community equally. This State has an opportunity to showcase those benefits by providing a state-of-the-art facility for young people in Ballyfermot.

Three local secondary schools in Ballyfermot, Caritas College, St. Dominic's College and St. John's College, are joining together to provide a more comprehensive education to 800 students, which I welcome. The new school is being built as a modern campus and is due to open in September 2022. However, no provision has been made for a physical education, PE, hall or for a canteen facility for the 800 students. How can this be right? Physical education is a vital part of young people's development and their overall mental health and well-being. We are all aware of conditions such as diabetes and obesity, and having a healthy diet and exercising is something that we often talk about. The young students in Ballyfermot were promised a top-class school but now they are not getting one.

Three existing schools are being amalgamated in this new school. I call on the Minister to meet members of the local community. Nobody, including the Minister, is listening to the young people in Ballyfermot. We are talking about a working-class area and about young people who have fewer opportunities because they are from an area like Ballyfermot. I call on the Minister to meet staff, students, members of the local community and local young people who are going to be impacted by this project. There will be a top-of-the-range school for young people in Ballyfermot without a canteen in it. We all know how vital it was during the pandemic to have hot meals available every day for some of our young students.

I again stress that we are calling on the Minister to come out to Ballyfermot to meet the young students who are going to be impacted. The Minister must not allow the young people of Ballyfermot to be failed once again. I genuinely do not believe this would be allowed to happen in upper-class areas of Dublin. My mother always said to drink the soup while it is hot and that if you are going to take on a job, be able to do it and do it properly. The decision was made to amalgamate these three schools and now the young people of Ballyfermot are going to be failed. We cannot allow this to happen.