Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas, a Chathaoirligh Gníomhaigh. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire stáit, an Teachta Madigan, freisin. Tá díomá orm nach bhfuil an tAire Oideachais í féin anseo, an Teachta Foley anseo agus ba cheart go mbeadh sí.

It is a shame that the Minister for Education has not seen fit to be able to be here today. This is a matter I have put tabled on a number of occasions and the Minister of State has come to the House on a number of occasions to reply on issues relating to this school. It is a shame that the Minister is not here as this is a direct responsibility of hers in the Department of Education, rather than related to the Minister of State's brief, which concerns special educational needs. I want to put on the record the credit given to the Minister of State by the community of Gaelscoil Laighean for the work she has done in this area. I recognise that she is supportive of what the community is trying to do.

As she is very well aware, there is a major issue with Gaelscoil Laighean, a small Gaelscoil currently located in Kill of the Grange in Deansgrange. It is currently in a two-room building and the school community is extremely stressed about the space available for it to grow. The reality is that the inaction of the Department is preventing the school from growing. Until it has the space to grow, it cannot take in extra classes and pupils, despite the fact that there is significant demand for that.

The Minister of State will also be aware that for a number of years the school has sought an alternative to the Kill of the Grange site. One has now been found at Mount Anville and disposed of by the Department of Education, and is now in a position to proceed, although I recognise that there is a certain amount of time involved in creating a school on the site. However, we also know that there is not enough room in Kill of the Grange for the school to grow in the way it needs. At the moment, there are 75 students enrolled for September. It has another class coming in and it does not have the physical space to accommodate it.

As far as I can see, the Department has done absolutely nothing to progress the fact that the school needs space for the new class. The parents and community of the school identified the school site in Mount Merrion that would accommodate the school on an interim basis before moving to the site in Mount Anville. The Department did not do that work; the parents did. Notwithstanding that, permission was required to construct the tigín, or prefab building, in Mount Merrion to accommodate the school on an interim short-term basis.

It was for the Department to make an application to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council under section 5 of the Planning and Development Act in respect of exempted development status for the site so that a building could be put in place. As I understand it, that application has still not been made and there is no good explanation as to why that has been the case. There has been talk about this for months. It is a simple application. Engineers have attended the site and examined it, and I understand the application is ready or will be submitted soon. Why has it not yet been submitted?

As long as it is not in, all the parents, families and teachers connected to Gaelscoil Laighean are in limbo. They do not know what is going to happen. They cannot plan for after-school classes, which were to be made available on the Mount Merrion site. They cannot plan for commuting to and from the school in the morning. People living in Mount Merrion have taken their children out of local schools to attend the school in September and now do not know where it is going to be.

The interim proposal from the Department, which has been communicated to all parents and An Foras Pátrúnachta, is to have a site across the road in the community centre of Kill of the Grange parish. That is not acceptable. There is a busy road. It is proposed that a small school be divided between two sites, which would involve children crossing the road at lunchtime, little or big break or whatever else. More importantly, that will divide teachers and classes. It is not a real solution.

I hope the Minister of State will have some information on this. I want to know why the building has not progressed and why we have not given parents some certainty regarding what will happen with the school in September, which is just a few months away. I hope we can make progress on this issue.