Vol. 370 No. 1
asked the Minister for Education the change in circumstances which occurred or the new information which he received, if any, which led to his reversal of a decision of his predecessor regarding the location of Coláiste Chrónán at Nangor Road, Clondalkin, County Dublin.
33.
asked the Minister for Education if his predecessor in office made a decision providing for Coláiste Chrónán to remain at its present location at Nangor Road, Clondalkin, County Dublin; the date on which this decision was made; and if representations had been received by his predecessor from the County Dublin VEC requesting that Coláiste Chrónán be permitted to continue at its existing location at Nangor Road.
I propose to take Question Nos. 29 and 33 together.
In early 1985 it become evident to my Department that a number of problems needed to be resolved in the Clondalkin area——
a shortage of post-primary pupil places in North Clondalkin.
a surplus of places, at least in the short term, in South Clondalkin when the new Deansrath School opened.
the need to provide suitable accommodation for the all-Irish primary and post-primary schools in Clondalkin.
My predecessor considered that the best solution would be to place the three schools, namely Collinstown Park Community College, Coláiste Chrónán Vocational School and Deansrath Community College under the management of County Dublin Vocational Education Committee and for the committee to formulate an enrolment policy that would ensure the provision of post-primary education for all the pupils from the Clondalkin area. In addition suitable accommodation would be provided in due course for the all-Irish schools, primary and post-primary. These views were communicated to County Dublin VEC in July, 1985.
When I met a deputation from the VEC in March 1986, it was indicated to me that the formulation of this enrolment policy was not feasible and that the needs of North Clondalkin pupils would best be served by the provision of a further school in that area. It was in that context that I agreed to the proposal of the VEC that the recommendations of the Dublin Advisory Council on post-primary accommodation be implemented, viz.——
the Coláiste Chrónán pupils and staff transfer from the Nangor Road building to Deansrath building.
the all-Irish schools be accommodated in the Nangor Road building.
