Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 9 Feb 1995

Vol. 448 No. 8

Written Answers. - Lucan (Dublin) School Requirement.

Liam Lawlor

Question:

50 Mr. Lawlor asked the Minister for Education the action, if any, she will take to deal with the continuing and growing overcrowding in Lucan, County Dublin; if she fulfilled her promise to commission an independent study on the area; and, if so, if a final report has been produced; if she will provide a detailed plan of action to meet the requirements of those schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2997/95]

Minister for Education (Ms Bhreathnach)

I would refer the Deputy to my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 259 put down by him on 15 February 1994 in which I stated, inter alia, that it was not my intention to commission an independent study of the future requirements for second-level education in Lucan but that my Department was carrying out a major review of the Lucan and adjoining areas to determine its short and long term post-primary requirements.

That review has been completed and an assessment of applications from each of the three post-primary schools in Lucan for capital grant-aid towards the provision of additional accommodation has been completed by my Department.

The architectural planning of a building project for Lucan College, Esker, is now proceeding. The question of developing building projects for the other two post-primary schools in Lucan, Coláiste Phádraig and Coláiste Iosef Naofa, is being examined in the light of the approved enrolment projections for those schools.

I am confident that these measures, when fully implemented, will meet the demand for post-primary education in the Lucan area.

Should there be additional temporary accommodation requirements to meet short term needs, my Department will sympathetically consider any application in this regard.