Seanad debates

Wednesday, 22 March 2023

Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters

School Accommodation

12:30 pm

Photo of Seán KyneSeán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach’s office for selecting this Commencement matter for debate. Coincidentally I attended an information session on Zoom this morning from St. Joseph's Patrician College, better known as "The Bish", in the heart of Galway city. The school has announced exciting plans for the development of the school. It will move to Dangan and a planning permission application for a 1,000 pupil school design is due to be lodged in April. This is badly needed to provide additional capacity for the growing population of Galway. I wish the school well in its endeavours.

I raised matters pertaining to school accommodation issues in June 2021, especially the need to examine the case for providing a secondary school in the Moycullen area. At that stage, the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, stated in response:

The Department has identified a significant volume of current or planned unused capacity in schools in Galway city....This capacity across schools in Galway city is expected to be sufficient to address projected emerging requirements in that school planning area as well as to facilitate a continuation of the enrolment patterns from primary schools in the Moycullen area.

The issue of lack of school places from this September is real. Based on information from parents who have contacted me, not only in Moycullen, but also in other areas of Galway city, the schools are full. We have seen a sea-change in the response from the Department in June 2021 and the reality on the ground facing parents and pupils for this coming September. I have been contacted by parents who say they have been told that no place is available. There are waiting lists in city schools and it is unlikely those parents will find a place for their children in the city schools. This is a real problem in the community that needs to be addressed.

This is especially prominent in the western environs of Galway city. Parents of one pupil told me they had applied to five schools for their son, he had not been accepted anywhere and he is placed extremely low on the waiting list for each school. The waiting list figures may have changed but at that stage there were waiting lists of up to 160 in Coláiste Mhuire Mháthair, of 360 in Coláiste Éinde, 148 in Galway Educate Together Secondary School, 91 in Coláiste Iognáid and 99 in The Bish. The parents were told that there was a low chance of getting into those schools. They have contacted the education and welfare services to notify them of the lack of available places. These are real issues.

I understand that responses have to be given to parents, but advising parents in Moycullen or other areas west of Galway city that there is capacity in Athenry, Headford or Loughrea which are across the city and further, is not realistic. It is an insult to parents. There is a real and immediate need for additional capacity in the existing school system in Galway city for the coming September.

I look forward to hearing the Minister of State's response. I hope it will indicate that the Department of Education is taking this issue seriously and recognises this is an issue of importance on the ground for this September. We cannot have a situation when we see deadlines for school bus tickets approaching that parents are unable to apply because they cannot indicate whether there is a school place or what school their child might go to. This is a real issue on the ground that needs to be resolved. I hope the Minister of State will be able to go back to the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, to the Minister, Deputy Foley, and to the Department looking for a timely update and action to solve this problem.

Photo of Jennifer Carroll MacNeillJennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. I cannot imagine how difficult and stressful it is not to have a place in school for a child going into secondary school, especially given the important transition and the important age at which it happens. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Foley. She would like me to clarify the current position relating to post-primary school provision in Galway city.

She states that 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. In addition, 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, which I imagine are reasonably consistent.

As the Senator is aware, following an assessment of post-primary school place requirements, a new school, Galway Educate Together Secondary School was established in 2019 to serve the Galway city and Oranmore school planning areas. The Department's projections of post-primary school place requirements in Galway city show some continued growth in overall enrolments in the short to medium term. The Department is aware of increasing pressures and demand for additional school places in Galway city. However, it points out 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 some of the following factors: duplication of applications where pupils have applied for a place to a number of schools in the area, the Senator stated his constituents had applied to five schools; the school of choice, where pupils cannot get a place in their preferred school where 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; and 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. It would be appropriate to contact the Senator and other representatives to provide the true picture if it is different to the one the Senator's constituents are experiencing. If additional spaces are available as a consequence of some of the factors I have mentioned, including the duplication of applications or other things, they may not be visible to individual principals or parents, but they should be visible to the Department which is conducting this assessment. I hope that will be provided to the Senator at the earliest possible opportunity to enable him to communicate with his constituents to try to ease their concerns as they approach their September decisions.

The Senator will also be aware that the Department is progressing a number of building projects in Galway city under the national development plan. The most significant project is a 1,000 pupil school building for the recently established Galway Educate Together Secondary School which will also include provision for students with special educational needs. Additional projects have been approved or are under assessment at schools in Galway, including a major project for St. Joseph’s Patrician College to expand the school to 1,000 pupils as well as provision for students with special educational needs. This project is currently at stage 2b. Coláiste Éinde has an additional school accommodation project for specialist accommodation and general purpose classrooms currently at stage 1. In addition, there is a major project for Coláiste Mhuire Mháthair to expand the school to 1,000 pupils as well as increased provision for students with special educational needs. That project is also at stage 1.

Photo of Seán KyneSeán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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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.

Photo of Jennifer Carroll MacNeillJennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator. I will certainly do that. I am told the priority for the Department is to ensure there are places available for every student for the next school year and that it will continue to engage with patrons and school authorities in this regard. I completely agree with the Senator. I imagine the principals are working quite closely to ensure they do not have duplication of applications with confusion arising as a consequence.I do not represent that side of the country but I am aware of the scale of distance involved in being in a different school, parish or community and the disruption that would cause to a child in terms of developing friends in his or her area, in addition to the impact on family life. There are also the climate consequences of having to travel that distance. Therefore, I completely understand what the Senator is saying about the need to have a targeted campaign to establish exactly what provision is required and to meet that provision. As the Department has said, it is its priority to do so in advance of September 2023.