Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 23 Mar 1994

Vol. 440 No. 5

Adjournment Debate. - Disadvantaged Area Status.

Ms McManus

I am disappointed the Minister for Education is not present, but I have great faith in the versatility of the Minister of State. Ballywaltrim is a new area of the town of Bray which has experienced rapid growth in population. The area now caters for approximately 10,000 people, 600 families live in local authority houses and private housing is predominately of the three bedroom semi-detached type. The largest local authority estate has an unemployment rate of 80 per cent and 41 per cent of families there are headed by lone parents.

Disadvantaged status has already been granted to the area by other Government Departments. For example, the Department of Enterprise and Employment funds a scheme for Youthreach which caters for the Ballywaltrim area. I want the Department of Education to provide similar status for the two schools in the area. The parish of Ballywaltrim which is relatively new, has major economic difficulties. Many parents simply cannot provide the voluntary contribution to make up the shortfall in funding even though they would like to support the schools in the area.

In common with other schools in the Bray area, the two St. Fergal's schools suffer from a lack of psychological and other backup services. Assessments carried out on children in those schools have shown that additional places are needed in the special classes and in the special school in the area, but those needs have not been met because the necessary planning is not in place. I accept this is not related directly to disadvantage status, but it is an important element in the difficulties facing those schools. While the Ballywaltrim school may not meet the overall criteria for departmental designation, a significant number of children in the school do meet those criteria. The number of disadvantaged children make up two full classes for each level throughout the schools, the equivalent of an average size school in the Dublin area.

In the junior school the proportion of disadvantaged children is increasing. In junior infants, 54 per cent of children live in local authority housing while in third class the figure is 42.8 per cent. Between the two schools there are 40 classes and approximately 1,300 children. It is obvious that many children are at a disadvantage and would normally qualify for designation status. The fact that the serious nature of the disadvantage is disguised by the size of the two schools should not lead to perpetuation of the injustice.

The staff of the schools and the community at large in Ballywaltrim are committed to developing resources to help the children of the area, but they require the support of the Department in their efforts. Last year I was disturbed that when one of the schools applied for a special resource teacher, the other school was told it would get such a teacher, but the decision was withdrawn without a satisfactory explanation. The designation status should be put in place now to maximise the chances of the staff of the schools succeeding in reaching the children most in need. As the children grow older the gap between those who achieve and those who do not will widen. As a public representative for Ballywaltrim I have a responsibility to ensure those children receive the best our education system can provide.

If those children attended a special school in the city centre there would be no question about them getting disadvantage status and it would not be necessary for me to take up the Minister's time making a case for them. The fact that they are part of a large pool of children should not reduce their entitlements. Disadvantaged status has not been granted to the children and the Minister should recognise their needs. If they were given disadvantage status it would make a real and discernible difference to their lives. Will the Minister consider the matter seriously? Otherwise the children will experience a double disadvantage.

Mr. Browne

(Wexford): I thank Deputy McManus for raising this matter. There is abundant evidence that educational qualifications or the lack of them determine to a large extent the life chances of our young people. The likelihood of obtaining educational qualifications is closely associated with social background and the children of socio-economically deprived groups constitute a majority of those who do not benefit from the educational system.

The link between educational deprivation and unemployment is clear. The majority of those who are long-term unemployed have few or no educational qualifications, have left school early and have not benefited from the education system. It is clear, therefore, that education plays an indirect but important part in the perpetuation of poverty. The children of deprived groups are themselves most likely to leave the education system early, to experience unemployment and to have limited chances. Thus the cycle of deprivation is perpetuated. Breaking this cycle of deprivation is the single greatest challenge facing our education system.

The primary mechanism for addressing the effects of socio-economic deprivation in schools is the disadvantaged areas scheme which provides special teaching assistance and extra funding to schools in designated areas of disadvantage.

Schools seeking disadvantaged status are assessed and prioritised as to need on the basis of socio-economic and educational indicators such as unemployment levels, housing, medical card holders and information on basic literacy and numeracy. In addition, in assessing the levels of disadvantage among applicant schools, account is taken of pupil teacher ratios.

Those criteria were recommended in the report, in 1990, of a representative working party which included representatives of school management, teachers and the Department of Education. A further review of these criteria is being carried out by the Combat Poverty Agency. To date over 400 primary and post-primary schools have been allocated disadvantaged posts. The primary schools in question also receive supplementary capitation grants at the rate of £17 per pupil. The post primary school in the Ballywaltrim area is one of the schools which has the benefit of a disadvantaged teaching post.

As announced in the House last year, the Minister allocated an additional 68 ex-quota teaching posts to the primary disadvantaged areas scheme in the current school year. As part of that arrangement, an additional 50 schools were newly included in the scheme. All national schools were circularised at the time and invited to apply for inclusion in that allocation. On the basis of information submitted, schools were assessed and prioritised in order of need. The primary schools in the Ballywaltrim area of Bray were among the applications considered in that context. However, the schools in question did not rate high enough on the priority list for inclusion on this occasion.

The Programme for Competitiveness and Work reinforces the commitment outlined in the Programme for a Partnership Government to a major concentration of resources on the disadvantaged. Additional schools will be included in the schemes for the disadvantaged, 50 at primary level and 60 at post primary level for 1994. A further 30 home school community liaison coordinator posts, 15 at primary level and 15 at post primary level, will be made available for the coming school year. This will facilitate the inclusion of approximately 41 schools in the home school community liaison scheme. That will bring the total number of schools in this scheme to over 180 with the services of 126 co-ordinators embracing approximately 72,000 pupils.

I assure the Deputy that the needs of the schools in the Ballywaltrim area will be full considered in the context of the proposed extension of those schemes.

Ms McManus

It is my birthday today and I had hoped the Minister might grant my request.

Mr. Browne

(Wexford): Happy birthday, Deputy.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.25 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday 24 March 1994.