asked the Minister for Education if he intends to implement the decision of the parents of Cobh, County Cork, arrived at by ballot, as to the future plans for second-level education in the area.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cobh Second-level Education.
23.
Mr. R. Burke
The question of the future structure of second-level education in Cobh is a matter on which full agreement has not yet been reached. The ballot of parents to which the Deputy refers was one element in the situation. It could not, however, be regarded as a decision for implementation. It simply indicated that some 40 per cent of the votes were in favour of a community school and 60 per cent in favour of a post-primary centre consisting of two schools with a common block of specialist rooms and common enrolment.
Due regard must be had to the views of the school authorities concerned and to the constraints, financial and administrative, on their freedom of action.
Discussions are proceeding between Departmental officers and the authorities in question with a view to facilitating a solution.
May I ask the Minister if he is aware that the ballot in question was carried out under the supervision and with the blessing of the clergy and of the religious involved in education in the Cobh area?
Mr. R. Burke
I am aware of the conditions in which the ballot was carried out.
Is the Minister aware that there is much disquiet and annoyance now amongst the people of Cobh that the type of school that they wanted is not going to be built and that another type of school is being foisted on them? The Minister did mention that discussion was taking place. That is not so. A decision has been taken by the vocational education committee as to the type of school, and this is not the type of school that the parents and the people of Cobh want.
Mr. R. Burke
Is the Deputy asking me not to proceed with the building of the vocational school?
I certainly am not. I am asking the Minister to have regard to the result of the ballot which he mentioned and to accede as far as possible to the demands and the desires of the parents of Cobh, which is not being done.
Mr. R. Burke
We have taken into account the expression of opinion in that vote and we know precisely what that vote indicated.
Does the Minister think there is any continuing future for the common enrolment idea?
Mr. R. Burke
I have no reason to believe that the small number of schools in which common enrolment obtains at the moment will in any way diminish in the near future.
Does the Minister think there is a real future for it?
Mr. R. Burke
That depends on more than myself.
We are getting away from the subject matter of Question No. 23.
Is the Minister saying that the common bloc idea which surfaced to solve a problem in Thurles and which was obviously favoured by the people of Cobh is now a dead letter?
Mr. R. Burke
Not necessarily.
Has it died in Thurles?
Mr. R. Burke
Those who generally brought about the death of what I regard as a progressive proposal for the rationalisation of education have a heavy responsibility on their hands.
The Minister did not answer my question.
We must get off this question.
It is my question and I want to ask a supplementary question.
I have already allowed Deputy Brosnan to ask a series of supplementaries. Deputy Wilson is in possession now.
Does the Minister think that his idea of the common block in the Thurles context has any future either in Cobh or Thurles or any place else, because it was introduced with a great flourish of trumpets? I would like to know does the Minister think it is dead?
I am afraid we are having an enlargement of the subject matter of the question.
May I ask the Minister——
Please, Deputies, let us utilise Question Time as well as possible.
Mr. R. Burke
I want to reply to Deputy Wilson. In so far as the combined schools proposal, usually called the Thurles proposal, was taken by some to involve common enrolment, which it did not, and if there is an insistence on common enrolment in regard to that proposal then there is no future for it.
I should like to ask the Minister if any pressures were brought to bear upon him to ignore the wishes of the parents of Cobh as expressed in the ballot which is mentioned here?
Consultation. After all, we had a lot about consultation.
A question has been asked. Let us hear the reply.
Mr. R. Burke
In reply to Deputy Brosnan, the Minister for Education is continuously under pressure, as is evident to the world at large, but the pressures were equal from all sides of this question. There was no question of the pressure coming from one side.
Sixty equals forty.