Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and the Department for providing the response. There has been engagement between school principals across the region and they do not believe there is duplication of applications. As regards school of choice, I am not being smart but at this stage any school place would be welcome for parents. They are not being picky. All schools are of good quality but it is about getting a school that is realistically proximate to where they live. There are plans in the medium to long term to increase capacity. I mentioned the project in The Bish that will be a number of years away, but we need an immediate fix for the problem parents are facing for the coming September. The Department of Education must intervene to increase capacity in one of the existing schools this September. With the best will in the world, with everyone working, a new school will not be built between now and September. We need intervention to provide additional places in our city schools for the coming September and I ask the Minister of State to go back to the Minister, Deputy Foley, to ask her to take this matter seriously and to engage with all schools about capacity problems.