Scoil Eoin is an outstanding primary school in the parish of Foxfield-St. John in Kilbarrack which is deemed a vulnerable area in terms of economic deprivation and high levels of unemployment, a central feature of the Northside Partnership area. Although I have raised the matter with the Minister for Education and Science and his predecessor, the school has failed to gain disadvantaged status and, as a consequence, extra specialist teachers, unlike the adjacent Gaelscoil, Gaelscoil Míde, and multidenominational school, North Bay, both of which are excellent primary schools and where perhaps parents are more committed.
Unbelievably, about half of the school yard, 1.018 acres, is to be sold off to Dublin Corporation for social housing development. In the recent local elections there was a major demonstration by several hundred people who are outraged at the proposed sale. In a press release, the demonstrators, who included the staff and parents, indicated that while they were not opposed to housing, this should not be at the expense of the pupils. They referred to the proposed sale as a form of asset stripping.
I have been informed by Dublin Corporation that the contract which it has signed has not been returned by the St. Laurence O'Toole Diocesan Trust. While I appreciate that it is the religious authorities which have initiated this process, the Minister for Education and Science should not allow the proposed sale to go through without comment. I call on him to act immediately in the interests of this deprived community. Foxfield-St. John is the parish of the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Woods, who has expressed concern at this development. Given that this brilliant school has not been given the disadvantaged status and specialist teachers it deserves, the least we should do is ensure its playground remains untouched.