Emer Currie (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State. Tyrrelstown is one of the youngest, fastest-growing and most diverse communities not just in Dublin West, but in the entire country. According to the 2016 census, 35% of the population were aged 15 or under and 40% of people living there were born outside the State. Residents have identified a major issue in the area to do with the provision of secondary school places. In particular, I thank Tyrrelstown Residents Community Council for its work on this matter. A report that was done during the Covid crisis, Tyrrelstown, Our Future, showed that the number one issue identified by people was the lack of a second secondary school in the area.

The Belgree and Mount Eustace estates have added approximately 2,000 residential units to the area over the past 15 years. Le Chéile Secondary School and four primary schools were opened to support that development. Over the past few years, more than 4,000 units have been in development across the areas of Tyrrelstown, Mulhuddart, including Church Fields, and the whole Blanchardstown local electoral area. Thus far, there are no schools to support that increase. Le Chéile Secondary School was oversubscribed this year by 34%. This is an area in which social cohesion is needed. There are not enough facilities and supports for young people. I recently attended the opening of The Penthouse, which is a fantastic new facility in Tyrrelstown for Foróige. We have put a lot of work into achieving that. There are not enough after-school activities or childcare provision. The area is growing at a fast pace but the provision of the social infrastructure that is required is not keeping pace.

A ten-acre site has been identified for use near Hollywoodrath and Bay Meadows. Even though a second secondary school for the area has always been identified as a necessity, an application for planning has gone in for a primary school on that site. Moreover, two further locations have been identified in the vicinity for primary schools. However, we are not seeing movement on a secondary school. There is the further complexity that the campus on which Tyrrelstown Educate Together National School, St. Luke's National School - fantastic schools with brilliant staff - and the community centre are located is part of the mess involving Western Building Systems. The primary school that is proposed to be built on the ten-acre site will be used to facilitate the movement of pupils from their current schools while they are being remediated. The site will potentially not be used as a primary school for another year or two years. This means we will not see any schools being opened in the next 12 to 24 months and there is nothing on the horizon about a new secondary school, even though it has been well flagged to everybody that one is needed.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir. 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, 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 is aware of increasing pressures and demand for additional school places in Tyrrelstown. I am also aware of this pressure because some of the Senator's constituents contact me about school places in Meath East. Indeed, some of their children go to schools there. It is important to note that where enrolment pressures arise, there may be a number of factors in play.The Department is working to establish the true extent of any capacity issues across school planning areas through ongoing discussions with school patrons and authorities. Where data indicate that additional provision is required at primary or post primary level, the delivery of such additional provision is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may be provided through a number of methods such as utilising existing capacity, extending the capacity of existing schools or providing schools. The Department accepts the planning area of Mulhuddart-Tyrrelstown in Dublin 15 is an area of significant population growth. That is the Department's term for the school catchment area; the exact term is the school planning area. As part of forward planning, the Department has assessed school accommodation in the area.

School place requirements in the Mulhuddart-Tyrrelstown Dublin 15 school planning area, specifically the Tyrrelstown area, will continue to be kept under review. My advice to the Senator, having been involved in a number of situations in my constituency where this is an issue, is that the more information that can be submitted to the forward planning section from the Senator, parents and, in particular, school principals, the better.

By and large, the Department has done a very good job in the past number of years on forward planning. It always benefits from having more information. Having been involved in similar situations in Ashbourne, Dunshaughlin, Laytown and other areas, in all cases local school principals, in particular, were involved, along with politicians, who worked collaboratively to submit information and make sure the Department has the information that is required. As I said, the Department has, generally speaking, done a very good job. It has changed many of its practices. Information always helps and I encourage the Senator to supply it.

Emer Currie (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. The response is disappointing. I know it is not his fault but I feel like we are going backwards. The need for a school has been identified, but the response does not acknowledge that. I will now go back to a community to tell it that despite the fact we thought there would be a secondary school and everyone was on the same page, it turns out we are not and we must now go through the process of collecting data and pushing for it. We are much further behind than we thought.

We are all aware that this is an area of significant growth. The community needs the facilities. I have previously spoken in the Chamber about the fact that none of the schools in the area have DEIS status, which is a major problem. The area requires our support from a social cohesion and integration point of view. It needs social infrastructure to help it grow. Children should not leave the community or electoral area to go to school. It is a problem that we need to sort out as a matter of urgency.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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To be absolutely fair, the response to me has been a misrepresentation of what I said. I would not like it to go back that someone has said there is no school for the area. That is not what I said. What has been said is that matters have been kept under review. That is what the Department has said. That is always the case. Usually in these cases, it is not a question of whether a school is needed; rather, it is a question of when a school is needed. The idea that someone has said the school is off the agenda is not correct. The Department is well aware of this and is constantly keeping it under review. My suggestions to the Senator were to be of help, based on my own experience. Overall, my experience has been positive-----

Emer Currie (Fine Gael)
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We are supposed to be at planning permission stage. That is my point.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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-----with the Department in recent years.

Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the students from St. Lawrence College from Loughlinstown to the Gallery.