asked the Minister for Education how it is proposed to cater for the primary and post-primary education requirements of the pupils in the Finglas South and Tolka Valley districts, Dublin in the school year 1974-75 and thereafter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin School Requirements.
53.
Mr. R. Burke
Two new primary schools for a total of about 1,300 children will be required in the Tolka Valley area of Finglas. All the preliminary arrangements, including the sanction of a grant have been made in relation to the first school. Plans for the second school have been examined and approved by my Department and the further preliminary arrangements are in hands.
Second level education in the Finglas South area is currently catered for by four second level schools. These schools, with the provision of additional accommodation, as required, will cater for the needs of the area for some time to come. Applications for extra accommodation for two of the schools are being examined in my Department at present, and decisions in relation to these applications will be given shortly.
Can the Minister assure the parents of the children in question that there will be facilities for them at the commencement of the new educational year?
Mr. R. Burke
I am informed by the manager that the existing schools in Finglas can cater for children from the Rivermount area pending the erection of the first of these schools. I conveyed this information to Deputy Tunney in reply to a similar Dáil Question on the 3rd May, 1973.
If the Minister indicates that there will be need for the provision of schools for 1,300 students in that area obviously he must accept that new schools would be required. Will the new schools be there in September next?
Mr. R. Burke
I cannot, obviously, say what will be there because there are a lot of building factors involved. I am advised that there is sufficient provision at the moment to serve the existing school needs of the Tolka Valley area.
54.
asked the Minister for Education why he has refused to furnish relevant particulars as to cost et cetera of new primary schools in the Finglas South/Tolka Valley district, Dublin.
Mr. R. Burke
Details of the financial arrangements made between my Department and the school manager in respect of state grant and local contribution for any particular primary school are not made public by my Department. This is a long standing practice and I do not see any reason to depart from it.
I have previously informed the Deputy that a generous grant has been allowed towards the cost of the erection of the first of the two new primary schools to be built in the Tolka Valley areas of Finglas.
Is the Minister indicating that a Member of this House is not entitled to get specific information as to the amount of State moneys being spent on the construction of a primary school?
Mr. R. Burke
I have indicated to the Deputy that I am not departing from the practice of my predecessors, two of whom I will mention. Deputy Faulkner, when Minister, in reply to Deputy Governey, said it was not the practice to make public the arrangements made between his Department and school managers in respect of grant or local contribution for any particular school. The late Donogh O'Malley, when he was Minister, replied in similar terms when replying to Deputy Harte in 1967. I will continue the practice of my predecessors.
That is not an adequate answer to my question. If the Minister was setting himself up as a replica of his predecessors I could understand it. I am asking the Minister whether a Member of this House is entitled to this information.
The Deputy has already asked that question.
I am asking him for his own opinion as to whether or not an elected Member of this House is not entitled to get information here which he can get as a member of the Committee of Public Accounts?
Mr. R. Burke
I have already replied that I do not see any reason why I should make public the arrangements made between my Department and the school managers and depart from the practice of many of my predecessors in this matter.