The Muslim community in Ireland is now 7,000 strong. Today is a day of historical importance to that community with the opening by the President, Mary Robinson, of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Clonskeagh which is in my constituency.
In the grounds in which the cultural centre is situated there is a thriving and expanding primary school which is the only Islamic primary school in the country. This school has 206 pupils and seven teachers. Many of the children attending it are Irish citizens and were born in Ireland. It also has a substantial number of children born outside the State who are now resident in Ireland with their parents. All the pupils have at least one parent who does not speak English as a first language and nearly 60 per cent of the children do not speak English as their main language at home. Some children have very little English and a number of pupils are in urgent need of remedial teaching.
At the end of the last academic year the number of children, born abroad, attending the school was 83. The number of children with two foreign parents was 107. The number of children with only one foreign parent was 62.
Early in 1996 the school sought sanction from the Department of Education for two additional teachers, one an English language teacher and the second a remedial teacher. The special needs and requirements of the school were fully explained and I made representations to the Minister for Education last spring asking her to sanction the appointment of these two additional teachers at the commencement of the new academic year in September 1996.
On 29 March 1996 the Minister in response to my representations simply noted my request for an additional English language teacher and a remedial teacher and promised that "a further letter will issue to you as soon as possible". Since then I have heard nothing further from the Minister or her Department and no additional teaching staff have been sanctioned for the school. The additional two teachers sought for the start of the academic year in September 1996 were not made available.
The objective of this school is to provide a comprehensive primary education for pupils coming from diverse backgrounds, a multiplicity of countries, many of whom have limited English linguistic abilities. The school is striving to provide for them an education which both reflects their cultural and religious background and heritage and enables them to form part of the larger general community of this State.
It is not good enough that the special needs of these children are not being provided for by the Department of Education. Sanction should be given through recruitment by the school of the additional teaching staff so urgently required by it to enable the staff to commence work in the school after the Christmas vacation period.
It is not good enough that I received no further communication from the Department of Education since March 1996 on this issue. I am not quite sure of the meaning of the words "a further letter will issue to you as soon as possible". I had expected it would be sooner than now. I regret it has been necessary to raise this issue on the Adjournment. It is appropriate that I raise it today as the President, Mary Robinson, not only opened the new cultural centre, but visited the school complex, as I did. I ask the Minister for Education to urgently address the school's needs and requirements and to provide the extra teaching staff, so badly needed, so that they are in place for the commencement of the next school term after the Christmas vacation.
