I am glad to have this opportunity of raising this very important question and I am glad that the Ceann Comhairle saw fit to allow me raise it. Before I talk about the community school in Clonakilty which was the subject matter of my question—Question No. 33 of 12th June—1 should like to take this opportunity of congratulating the Minister on his new appointment as Minister for Education. This is my first opportunity of doing so. I know the Minister well. I have no doubt but that he will prove to be a most able and effective Minister. It can be said that he operates the Department with a certain amount of panache. I hope he will continue to operate it as effectively as he has done up to now.
I do not agree with everything the Minister does. The question of a community school arose at Clonakilty over 12 months ago. We, on this side of the House, have no objections in principle to community schools as such. In some contexts they are a good idea. In the case of Clonakilty the idea of a community school is not so good. I will endeavour to explain to the Minister why I think this is so.
There was a report on the Cork Examiner on 10th May, 1973, of a meeting that was supposed to be private, where the Department's officials and the headmasters of three schools took part in the discussions. There was a leakage of information from that meeting. There were banner headlines in the Cork Examiner which read: “Anger over shelving of Community School”. The report read:
Plans to build a new £400,000 Community School at Clonakilty have been shelved because one of the three secondary schools involved in the area has refused to take part in the scheme. A meeting between Department of Education officials and principals of the three schools in the town this week was told for the second time within a year that the all-girl Convent of Mercy was not willing to take part in the community school project. The decision of the Convent of Mercy is known to have angered some sections of the community. A meeting at which it is expected the heads of the other two schools will be present is to be held in Clonakilty within a week. Let us hope it goes on to form a committee.
The Cork Examiner say they are quoting from a “reliable source”. When I read that report I was dismayed and outraged that there should be such an anti-clerical headline and an attempted villification of the nuns of the Convent of Mercy who have given long, proud and unbroken service to the people of Clonakilty.
The Cork Examiner have been unwittingly used to promote the aims of somebody or something. It speaks of “an angered community”. If they describe the community as being angered because of the article they printed, they are correct; but there was no anger because of the shelving of the community school. We all know that the Convent of Mercy nuns have a rich, educational tradition in the town. They are not acting selfishly or without concern for the interests of the boys and girls of Clonakilty. Pillorying of this kind of this respected community must cease. The injustices done on them should be undone. Facts should be accurately reported, and not as some people would like them to be reported.
The officials of the Department of Education and the heads of the post-primary schools met. There were other observers at the meeting. It was a private meeting, and still we had people divulging what happened. We find it hard to understand why they did so. It was not done because of interest in the children or parents of Clonakilty. I believe this was a deliberate attempt to foster hostility between the nuns and people of Clonakilty. It was a meanminded attempt to denigrate the tremendous, trojan work the nuns have been doing in the area. I know that Deputy John L. O'Sullivan will agree with me when I say that the people of Clonakilty have the highest esteem for these nuns.
It is not my intention to adopt the guttersnipe tactics, used against the nuns, against the perpetrators of this offence. Very many parents have come to me to ask my support and unstinted backing to have the secondary school at the Mercy Convent retained. The reasons are easy to understand. It is an outstanding school. It gave a wonderful education to several generations of Clonakilty people. It is a community school in all but name. If a wide curriculum is suggested as a reason for a community school, it must be seen to that this convent school has such a broad curriculum. It also provides extra-curricular activities. It is also providing adult education. The quality of the education provided is excellent. The school has continued to expand each year. No sleight-of-hand methods by any individual or group can disprove that. The nuns have laboured lovingly and well for the people of the town.
Certain troublesome questions arise. Who was responsible for the leakage of information from the meeting? Why was the information leaked? I do not wish to enter the realm of conjecture, but my opinion is that the information was leaked by somebody with a vested interest and not with an interest in the children.
A community school is a relatively good idea but I have been somewhat disquieted for some time about the management of these schools. I know that moneys from the World Bank are available to the Minister for immediate investment in community schools. but there are strings attached lo this type of investment.
I do not think that we should have any outside body dictating to us the type of schools we should have in this country. I would be nervous that this form of concept of community school and management of these schools could have a de-christianising effect on our educational system generally. That might be considered an old fashioned thought and might not be in line with some of the liberals, or pseudoliberals who are floating around the educational scene, but it is true. As a parent I am anxious that the Christian atmosphere, and the Christian bend to our education, are retained.
Everything possible should be done to facilitate the boys at Clonakilty. I do not think this will create any problem given the goodwill of the Minister. The amalgamation of the vocational school and the secondary school, St. Mary's, which has between 200 and 300 pupils, could be brought about quite easily. Then the town would have two very effective schools operating within close proximity of each other, utilising common facilities and indulging in all the activities a parent would wish them to indulge in. There is a great urgency about the establishment of a boys secondary school in the town. I do not think that there would be any difficulty about a site and I think the Minister, by establishing such a school, will be satisfying 90 per cent of the people of the town.
As public representatives we must take account of the wishes of the people and we must not shove down their throats something they do not desire. This school is important in a town like Clonakilty, an expanding town with a very strong rural community. The town is developing industrially and benefits considerably from tourism. It is of vital imortance to an expanding town that there should be adequate educational facilities to cater for an ever increasing population.
The school for boys which I envisage would have all the benefits that arc available in the community school concept. The matter was discussed recently at a meeting of parents and teachers and which was attended by an official of the Department of Education. This official, Mr. Moloney, did an excellent job under very difficult circumstances and is deserving of praise. He pointed out the advantages of a community school project but, at the same time, did not shy away from the fact that everybody in the hall might not have agreed with him. Even that official could not have gone away from that meeting with any thought other than that the parents of Clonakilty want a post-primary school for the boys and want the secondary school for girls retained.
I do not think that it is an irrelevance to ask which is the more efficient from the pupils' point of view. Does the Minister consider that it would be better to have two schools accommodating 400 and 300 pupils each, compared with one school accommodating a total of 700 pupils? I would prefer to see my children going to a school where they would get personal attention rather than attending one where they would be a mere number. There is no need for the Minister to tell me that this has not happened. It has happened and many people whose children are attending community schools are having second thoughts about the effectiveness of these schools. I know of one parent in Dublin who has taken his children away from a community school because he considered they were not receiving the type of attention, or education, that is so imperative now.
I accept that the Minister cannot wave a magic wand and produce the money out of the air for such a school but I believe that Clonakilty is a special case. Why not have a community of schools rather than a community school? I do not see any basic difference in the concept but I do see a lot of advantages in retaining the present structures. It is easy to pull something down and say, or do, something destructive but it is harder to construct something in its place and say, or do, something constructive. The Minister should not hesitate on this matter which is of vital importance to the people of the town. The quicker the Minister reaches a decision on the matter the sooner this type of banner headline which is appearing in the newspapers will cease.
I am aware of the Minister's anxiety to ensure that every part of the country has the best education facilities. If the Minister sanctions the erection of a post-primary school for boys in Clonakilty he will be fulfilling his wish in that regard in this town.
