Mark Wall (Labour)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for taking the time to be with us. The Minister for Education will be very aware of this issue as I have raised it with her on a number of occasions. Indeed, it is almost one year to the day since she met with Members of the Oireachtas from south Kildare to discuss this issue, following a meeting arranged by the Ceann Comhairle. In fairness, in the following weeks places were found for children, with the addition of extra classes and schools working across applications to ensure nobody was left without a school place or left behind.

Unfortunately, we are here again in another December. For the past two months or so, I and other Oireachtas colleagues in south Kildare have received growing calls from parents who are worried sick that their children will not have a secondary school place this coming September. It is an issue we discussed at a Kildare County Council Oireachtas meeting last week and it is one I have brought up every year for the three years I have been in the Seanad. Parents ask me time and again why, when all these houses were granted planning permission, did nobody think the families coming to live in them would need a secondary school. Did nobody think these families would need facilities?

Of course, there is good news on the horizon, and I acknowledge that, but the new Curragh post-primary school promised and planned for the former Magee Barracks in Kildare town is still at design and planning stage and will not be ready before September 2023. I am hearing that additional prefabricated classrooms will be provided at the Curragh post-primary school. I ask the Minister of State to confirm that in his reply. Many people in Newbridge ask me how their children are expected to access a new school located in Kildare town. Many in the Curragh and its surrounds are asking why it was not the chosen location for their secondary school. I am sure the Minister for Education is still getting questions, both through her Department and directly, about whether she is planning a new further secondary school for the town of Newbridge itself.

Of course, this is all about the children, who see their friends getting places and who are being told they are multiple numbers away from a similar school place. It is about parents who are sick with worry that those same children are upset, are not talking or are asking them why this is. As always, I will bring to the Minister of State the examples of a small number of those parents, who represent so many others who are still worried and still waiting. The first writes:

For continuity on this issue and visibility for all, I wanted to share the latest update regarding the lack of a school place for our 12 year old son in Kildare Town Community School.

12 Places were offered to Pupils in the Town today. Unfortunately, our son was not one of these. My wife called the school earlier who confirmed he is now number 14 on the list.

She thought it's better than being number 30 as he was previously, and asked when round 3 was being sent out, to which the school representative said there may not be any 3rd round and to try and get a place elsewhere!

That goes back to the earlier point about the foresight from the Government to nip this stressful situation in the bud. Another parent in Newbridge writes:

In the Patrician Secondary School he was initially 60 on the list and the last time we rang we were told he’s 42 on the list. That is quite high [we are told] for that school ...

In St Conleths Community College he initially was 72 on the list and we have not been updated as to where he is now on the list as [we were told] the school [is not in a position to tell us what the current position is].

As I previously said we are extremely anxious, upset and worried about this. My son has lived in Newbridge since he was born. He was baptised in Newbridge, received his first holy communion in Newbridge and will make his confirmation in Newbridge. He went to Playschool / Montessori in Newbridge, is in Primary School in Newbridge and all he and we want is for him to attend Secondary school in Newbridge.

It goes on and on. This is a crisis time for so many parents. I hope the Minister of State has some answers today.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I am taking it on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education, who is currently at a Cabinet meeting and unavailable. The Senator has raised this previously and our colleague Senator O'Loughlin has also raised a number of issues in this regard.

For school planning purposes, the Department of Education divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a geographical information system to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including child benefit data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity is used for this purpose. Additionally, Project Ireland 2040 population and housing targets inform the Department's projections of school place requirements.Projections of post-primary school place requirements are informed by multiple factors, including primary school enrolments in the area and primary to post-primary transfer patterns.

The Department's projections of post-primary school place requirements in Newbridge are showing an increase in the short term with a subsequent gradual decline and the Kildare school planning is showing an increase in the short to medium term. While the Department is aware of increasing pressures and demand for additional school places in Newbridge and Kildare, it is important to note that where enrolment pressures arise, it may not be as a result of lack of accommodation but may be driven by other factors, including duplication of applications where pupils have applied for a place to a number of schools in the area or school of choice where pupils cannot get a place in their preferred school while there are places in other schools in the town or area. Some towns or areas have single-sex schools and while places are available in the school they are not available to all pupils. Another factor is external draw, that is, pupils coming from outside the local area. The Department is working to establish the true extent of any capacity issues across school planning areas through ongoing discussions with the relevant school patrons and authorities. This close engagement will allow the Department to identify at an early stage particular capacity requirements for the forthcoming years which may necessitate further action to that already in train including, where required, the provision of modular accommodation solutions.

As the Senator has acknowledged, the Department is progressing a number of building projects in Newbridge and Kildare under the national development plan, NDP. The most significant project in terms of planned additional capacity is a new 1,000 pupil school building for Curragh Community College which will also provide four classrooms for pupils with special educational needs. Agreement in principle has been reached on the permanent site for this school which will be located on the former Magee Barracks site in Kildare town. In relation to immediate needs and additional capacity, the Department is in discussions with the Department of Defence and Kildare Wicklow Education and Training Board, KWETB, with regard to the refurbishment of an existing building known as block A which is adjacent to the existing school. It is intended this building, once refurbished, will provide for the extra accommodation required to meet the school's needs for September 2023. This provision of a new replacement school and relocation to the Kildare school planning area will provide significant additional capacity in the area.

There are also additional projects approved or under assessment at the following schools in Newbridge. A major project for Patrician Secondary School Newbridge to expand the school to 1,000 pupils is currently at stage 2b of architectural planning, detailed design, the St. Conleth's Community College additional school accommodation application is currently being assessed in the Department, and the Holy Family Secondary School Newbridge additional school accommodation application is being finalised in the Department. In addition, there is also a major project approved for Cross and Passion College Kilcullen, which is to expand the school to cater for 1,000 pupils, and this project is currently at stage 2b, detailed design. Accordingly, I wish to advise the Senator that the Department of Education is aware of increasing pressures and demand for additional post-primary school places in a number of school planning areas across Kildare. I assure the Senator that the Department of Education will continue to engage with the relevant patrons in respect of the post-primary school enrolment position in the area, as well as with local representatives, and that the Department is focused on ensuring that the start of the 2023-24 school year operates as smoothly as possible for all schools and their students.

Mark Wall (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Unfortunately, the first page is cut and pasted from a reply given last year. This is the problem I have in respect of school places in Kildare South. I have been highlighting this for a number of years, as have colleagues in the Oireachtas and on Kildare County Council. Thankfully, we see the results of that on the second page of the reply. There are four schools being either extended or newly built. The problem of course is where pupils will go for 2023 and 2024. For the person who wrote to me this morning, who is in 60th or 72nd place on the list for a school in Newbridge, that is a serious worry when we hear there may be a prefab located in the Curragh post-primary school to accommodate additional needs. What these parents need is certainty. I ask the Minister of State to go back to the Minister for Education and ask her to provide that certainty.

Last year, the Ceann Comhairle organised a meeting with Oireachtas Members which gave a lot of certainty to the parents that something would happen. I raise this matter on a continuous basis, as do other Oireachtas Members. All we need is to assure those people who need a place for 2023 that they will have one. If it is in temporary accommodation, that would be welcome but we need that assurance now. We cannot have parents with their children locked in rooms, which is what is happening at the moment, when their friends have been assured places yet their children are not getting places. That is what this is all about. I ask the Minister of State to take this back to the Minister. Maybe we will get an Oireachtas meeting up and running again and maybe then we will get the assurance those parents want for 2023. I welcome that there is building taking place but it is going to take two to three years. We do not want to be back here again next December.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I assure the Senator that the Department is in discussions with the patrons and stakeholders of the schools in the area with regard to the immediate need for 2023-24, which the Senator has identified, but also for future needs. The Department is progressing additional solutions for Newbridge and Kildare, including the relocation of Curragh Community College to Kildare town, which will provide significant additional capacity. The Department is aware of enrolment pressures for 2023-24 and will continue to liaise with patrons and local representatives in this regard. I will pass on the Senator's concerns to the Ministers. As I said, there can be multiple reasons for enrolment pressures but the Department is working to establish whether there is a requirement for additional provision in the area. It will ensure that any required accommodation solution is put in place as well as continuing to advance the major and additional school accommodation projects that I previously outlined. The priority for the Department is to ensure that there are places available for every student in the next school year. It will continue to engage in this regard.