Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment for taking the motion. He is probably not familiar with Castaheany, a new town on the outskirts of the city in Dublin 15. Some 4,000 houses have been built there in recent years, and this, combined with other new developments on adjoining lands, has led to many difficulties in the area with regard to facilities and services, one of which is the provision of educational facilities.

Parents in the area had to campaign for a number of years to achieve a permanent school on the site. Children have been housed in ten prefabs while the new school is being built. It is nearly completed and will comprise 16 classrooms. However, this is totally inadequate for the number of children who wish to attend. A total of 101 children have been refused places for September 2005. These are of schoolgoing age but their parents have been told there are no places available for them. Despite the new school being almost completed, some of these children will not be taken in next year as the school can only currently take 90 children. It is a three stream school but should have five, keeping in mind the number of people who wish to attend. Therefore, we do not only have a problem with regard to this year but will be faced with the same problem next year.

What can we say to the parents of children who cannot be taken in this year? The Minister will probably answer that they must wait another year. However, many parents, especially those who already have a child in the school, felt that their four year old would be taken in September and now they will be five years old or more when going to school. There is no guarantee that they will get in next year. The Educate Together school has been sanctioned and is functioning but it is in Lucan, so children are bussed every day from Castaheany to Lucan until such time as a school, even a temporary one, is built in Castaheany. There is, therefore, a real urgency about this problem.

Can anything be done about the children who wish to go to school this September? Is it possible to make it a 32-classroom school because land is available? There are five acres on site but the Department only purchased three. My advice, and the advice of other public representatives, would be that the five acres should be purchased, the school should be extended to 32 classrooms and the Educate Together school should be fast-tracked as quickly as possible. Ongar is another growing area which also needs a school.

There no secondary school in the area either. A site has been identified and negotiations may be ongoing to acquire the site, but if we do not move quickly we will find ourselves in the same situation in a few years time when there is no secondary school for these children and they must be bussed out to other areas. This is an example of bad planning and not providing facilities for people who buy houses. This type of planning goes on in many other parts of the country and not only in Dublin 15. However, the situation is critical and the Government has a responsibility to cater for the children in this area. We have known for years that this need and difficulty would arise, yet the Government failed to deliver on its commitments and what is necessary to cater for these people. I hope the Minister will have a favourable response that people will be interested in hearing.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising this matter and for giving me the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the actions being taken by the Department of Education and Science to address the school accommodation needs of the Dublin 15 area in general.

Dublin 15 is one the most rapidly developing areas in the country and, as a result, there has been a marked increase in the demand for school places, particularly at primary level. The Department of Education and Science is taking a number of measures to increase the capacity of existing schools in the area concerned along with the development of new schools to meet this growing demand.

A building project at Huntstown national school will increase its capacity to 32 classrooms and this project is nearing completion. In addition, a building project to provide a new school building for Mary Mother of Hope national school is currently on site. To further expand capacity at this school, the Department has approached the school's board of management to discuss the possibility of expanding the school to cater for a four stream intake at junior infant level for next September. This could be achieved by the school expanding to a 32-classroom school or reorganising to form a junior and senior school. This development will cater for the needs of pupils wishing to attend the school for next September.

The area in question is also served by Castaheaney Educate Together national school. The Department of Education and Science is currently pursuing the issue of site acquisition for this school and the provision of a permanent school building for it will be prioritised in the Department. It is envisaged that this will grow to a 24-classroom school which will facilitate an annual intake of three junior infant classes. Temporary accommodation will be provided in the interim to meet the school's immediate needs for next September.

A combination of the measures outlined will alleviate demand for pupil places in the area for the foreseeable future. I will convey the Senator's comments regarding secondary schools to the Minister for Education and Science.