asked the Minister for Education whether he has refused to continue to pay the salary of the teacher at Coney Island National School, Rosses Point, and ordered the school to be closed and, if so, if he will state why he has taken this action in view of the fact that children are being taught in the school and that there is no other school in the neighbourhood to which they can go without considerable danger and hardship; and if he will in the circumstances agree to continue the school.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - School Closing Order.
Of the seven pupils attending Coney Island National School there appears to be only one who is a native of the island. In the circumstances, I do not consider that my Department would be warranted in continuing recognition to the school. Notice was sent to the manager and to the teacher on the 13th September, 1938, that grants would be withdrawn from the school from 31st December, 1938, but in order to allow the parents and guardians an opportunity of making alternative arrangements for the education of their children, the date of withdrawal of recognition from the school has been postponed to 31st March, 1939.
Is the Minister aware—I may say, in passing, that there are nine children on the island— that the other children he speaks about are not belonging to the island, but are actually living with relatives? Is he also aware that the children will have to travel by sea to some other school, and will he say where that other school is? Will he say whether it is the intention of the Department or the Government to depopulate this island? It is clear that if the school is shut down, the island will be depopulated. Is that the Minister's intention?
The Deputy does not seem to be aware that some of the children attending this school are brought from the mainland.
They are living with relatives; they do not come from the mainland to school.
Apart from the fact that we are satisfied that an attendance sufficient to maintain the school cannot be maintained from people who are natives of the island, there are other circumstances also in question and, having examined the thing closely, I am satisfied it would not be justifiable to maintain the school.
Does the Minister suggest that some of the children attending the school at present come daily from the mainland to attend the school?
Their natural place of residence is not the island, at any rate, it seems to me.
Does the Minister suggest their natural place of residence is on the island, close to the position of the school? That is not so. Is the Minister not aware that any of the children living on the island have come from a distance and they are living with relatives on the island?
The Deputy knows that under the national school regulations a certain attendance has to be maintained. I am not satisfied that the attendance of the minimum number of seven will be obtained in this case.
Is the Minister not aware that a separate school is given for very small numbers in the case of certain religious denominations in the country, and is he not prepared to apply considerations of that particular kind to island schools, where it is inevitable that the closing of the school will depopulate the island?
I am not aware that special arrangements are made for the maintenance of small schools in the case of any particular religious denominations. The same rules cover children of all denominations and schools of all denominations. Naturally, in the case of an island school, if the case seems to be a bona-fide one, the rules of the Department would be stretched to the utmost extent in order to enable the school to be maintained. I am not satisfied that this is a case which makes it necessary that the school should be maintained.
I should like the Minister to understand that I do not wish to imply that there are separate regulations or considerations for any particular religious denominations, but in the case of certain religious denominations the facts are such that certain regulations have to be applied and these same considerations should apply certainly to island schools.