Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to follow the theme of school places. Many parents are going to open nights and visiting schools at present to see where is the appropriate place to send their child. It is a very stressful time, as well as being a very important time for children moving from one school to another. When people are looking for a special place for their child, however, it becomes a huge issue. It is an issue that we need to start talking about and planning for. We have put a great deal of investment into special places in primary school. Unfortunately, we do not have that same capacity built into the secondary school network. That has become a huge stress point for parents who are going to open nights and getting results they do not want to hear.

At present, Bantry has six potential kids looking for one place. It gets worse in other locations. Skibbereen has no places available at the moment. Six places are becoming available in Bandon, with 12 kids looking for them. The capacity issue is huge in these areas. How we can find solutions in a short space of time to accommodate these families will be the issue. In the next few weeks and months, the strategic planning for next September needs to be finalised. Parents need to get some kind of realisation that there is a plan in place to accommodate their kids and that units and teachers will be put in place. We have done an awful lot at primary level. Secondary level is becoming the issue now. I suggest that we need to get some movement on this. Hopefully, we can get the Minister into the Chamber to discuss her plan for next September in order that everyone can be accommodated. What I want is for everybody to be accommodated in their own town. I do not want to have a bizarre situation where, let us say, kids in Bantry will go to Schull. We do not want people to have that kind of 30-mile trip. We need to make sure that kids can actually get the appropriate accommodations they are looking for in the towns in which they are living. It is important that we have that debate with the Minister about her strategic plan for next year.