Following yesterday’s announcement by Minister Mary Hanifin of 80 schools that have been approved for building and modernisation, Deputy Joan Burton, Labour Party TD for Dublin West, has criticised the Minister for failing to include a single secondary level facility on the list of planned new schools for Dublin West.

Deputy Burton said, “The Department of Education is aware of the urgent need for more secondary schools in the area and have been promising a new secondary school in the Littlepace – Ongar area for almost five years, yet there are still no concrete proposals.”

“There are 3000-5000 new homes being built in Dublin West year and the effects of this huge expansion have already been felt in the primary system. Most primary schools in the area have had to increase to up to four streams of junior infants, without additional classroom space, and yet still we face an annual crisis when parents discover that there is no space in the local schools to offer their four year old child a place for the following year.”

“It does not take genius to predict that this crisis will soon hit the secondary level schools in the area. Given the time required for site acquisition, planning and construction of a new school it is clear that planning and building of new secondary schools must start immediately”.

“Castleknock Community College is already struggling to cope with the huge numbers of local students applying for places and yet more are opting to travel long distances by public transport to secondary schools outside the area. A gym has been promised for eight years for Castleknock Community College, but it does not appear on this list of promised extensions, showing yet again how low Dublin West schools are on the Minister’s list of priorities”.

“While other parts of the country are facing declining numbers in their schools, Dublin West is in the middle of a population explosion. The Minister refused to act for local primary schools until the crisis reached such a level that it could not be avoided. All I am asking is the Minister would take this opportunity to plan ahead and avert the crisis at secondary level in Dublin West before it reaches fever pitch.”

One thousand school children will end up shoehorned into a tiny play space in St Patrick’s school Diswellstown, Dublin 15, the very school Education Minister Mary Hanafin visited last Thursday local Labour TD Joan Burton has said.

“The school is set to double in size but with no additional space. As a result, the amount of yard space available to the children on the school grounds is to suffer. Although the school is a fine building and is one of the first three-storey primary schools to be built in the country alongside the school in nearby Littlepace, the school is on a site that is a grossly inadequate where the interest of the property developers have won out over interest of local community. The extension will double the enrolment but without providing any additional land.

“Parents are understandably worried as to how the school will provide adequate playground space for so many children. It is ironic therefore that the Minister is visiting the school to sign an agreement with Fingal County Council to enter partnership to aim of which is to fast track the delivery of new schools in high growth areas. These schools will share community facilities to be operated out of school time by Fingal County Council.

“However, the hidden agreement is in effect to halve school site sizes so that 1000-pupil schools plus traditional community halls will now occupy three acres and less where traditionally they might have occupied 5-6 acres or more. Inevitably this tight squeeze will lead not only to cramped playing conditions for the pupils, but also to chaos in the morning as parents drop their children off at schools where car parking and turning space will be very limited.

“The Minister needs to set national standards for playground space and school space so that at a time when parents are more and more concerned about childhood obesity, children must have proper play space within school grounds.

“The visit by Minister Mary Hanafin to the school follows hot on the heels of the publication of census report showing extraordinary growth of population in Dublin West, but without the necessary investment in infrastructure including schools.

“This is the second opening of this school and its related community facilities by a Government Minister. The facilities were finally opened to great pomp and ceremony by the Minister’s colleague Minister for Children. Precisely how many Ministers does it take open a school?”

The Minister for Education continues to fail primary school children in Dublin 15.
The latest figures released by the Minister for Education to Labour Party TD for Dublin West, Deputy Joan Burton, show that children going to school in Dublin 15 can expect to spend their primary school years in classrooms of approximately 29 children. This is five more than the national average.

The average class size nationwide is 24 children per class, according to figures released by the Department of Education last week. The INTO has this week delivered a petition with 200,000 signatures to the Minister of Education, demanding that the Government commit real resources to reducing primary class sizes across the country.

Deputy Burton said, “Parents and children in Dublin 15 are being shortchanged by the current level of overcrowding in the local primary schools. With an average of 5 more children per class in Dublin 15 than the national average, these figures are a wake-up call to the Government.”

In the thirteen schools surveyed, there are 109 classes with more than 30 children per class, making Dublin 15 top of the overcrowding league.

Average Class Size

St. Mochtas National School 31
St. Ciaran’s National School, Hartstown 30.6
Sacred Heart of Jesus National School 29.8
St. Thomas’ National School, Laurel Lodge 29.8
Mary Mother of Hope National School, Littlepace 29.4
Castleknock National School, Castleknock 29.3
St. Brigid’s School, Castleknock 29
Scoil Bride Girls National School, Blanchardstown 28.6
Castleknock Educate Together, Castleknock 28.1
St. Francis Xavier Junior School, Roselawn 27.8
St. Francis Xavier Senior School, Roselawn 27.2
Scoil Bride Boys National School, Blanchardstown 26.5
Mulhuddart National School, Mulhuddart 26.3

Overall Average Class Size 28.7

“Faced with a crisis of school places, the Minister has opted for the sticking plaster solution of cramming more and more children into existing schools, with local schools being forced to move from 3 streams to 4. But class sizes in Dublin 15 are already among the highest in the country”

“I have repeatedly made positive proposals for a long term solution to the ongoing crisis:

• A round table conference of all school principals with County Council and Education
officials
• A proper assessment of new needs for the next 5 to 10 years in line with expected new
housing
• Immediate purchase of sites for the new and planned housing in Dublin 15
• A phased plan to build the schools at the same time as the houses”