asked the Minister for Education the present position in relation to the building of a vocational school in Ballyfermot, Dublin.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Ballyfermot (Dublin) Vocational School.
51.
A contract has recently been placed for the building of a vocational school for boys in Ballyfermot.
The provision of a second boys' vocational school at this centre has been sanctioned in principle, and plans for this school are at present under consideration in my Department.
Is it the intention to provide a girls' school as well?
The original intention was to provide a boys' school and a girls' school but the need for extra accommodation for boys became more immediately pressing and a second boys' school is to be built on the site originally intended for a girls' school. It is intended to make provision for girls but there seems to be less pressure for the accommodation.
What is the size of the school it is now proposed to build?
The second school will accommodate 360 pupils; the first school will accommodate 240 pupils.
May I ask the Minister as a matter of interest—I know nothing of the special conditions in Ballyfermot—whether it is in principle desirable to have two medium sized technical schools for boys serving one area or does the general principle remain which he enunciated on a previous occasion that it is preferable to have a larger school with better equipment and better facilities than to have two small schools?
The principle remains but this is a contingency which arose in the Dublin City vocational education area and was not foreseen by anybody. It was to meet a situation requiring immediate solution that this course was determined on. The principle remains that a bigger school is better.
Am I to take it that this is a principle more honoured in the breach than in the observance?
It was force of circumstances which made it necessary to make immediate provision for more than had already been planned.