asked the Minister for Education the total number of children attending the national school at Tallaght, County Dublin; the number of children from Tallaght attending schools outside this area by means of special transport; the number of classes in Tallaght national school with more than 45 pupils; and if any State grant for this school's development is included in the current capital programme.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Dublin Schools.
19.
I refer the Deputy to my reply of 28th October, 1970, to a previous question on Tallaght. The average number of pupils on rolls in the boys' and girls' national schools at Tallaght, County Dublin, during the quarter ended 30th September, 1970, was 396 boys and 278 girls. Normal practice and procedure preclude me from giving in relation to a named school or schools information on class sizes. Apart from this I am satisfied that it would not be in the public interest to do so.
The average number of children from Tallaght attending schools outside this area by means of special transport during the September quarter, 1970, was 34 boys and 31 girls.
20.
asked the Minister for Education the total number of boys and girls attending the national school at Dundrum, County Dublin; the number of classes with students in excess of 40 and 50 in attendance; and if there are any current plans on hand for the extension of this school.
The average number of pupils on rolls in the boys' and girls' national schools at Dundrum, County Dublin, during the quarter ended 30th September, 1970, was 685 boys and 433 girls. Normal practice and procedure preclude me from giving in relation to a named school or schools information on class sizes. Apart from this I am satisfied that it would not be in the public interest to do so. There are no plans for the extension of Dundrum national school. However, it is intended to provide extra school accommodation to serve the new housing areas adjoining Dundrum.
May I ask why it is not in the public interest to disclose this information?
In the first place if I were to answer a question like this in relation to a named school it would mean I could be asked a similar question from every Deputy about every school in his constituency.
What is wrong with that?
Obviously that would waste the time of a very hard-worked Department.
Is that the only justification?
No, there are others.
Could the Minister elaborate on this a little?
This is a very important factor.
This is the national Parliament and questions are being asked.
Yes, but what I have stated already is a very important factor. I do not intend to waste the time of my Department looking into this type of statistic in relation to individual schools throughout the country. It is possible for a Deputy to get statistics in relation to class sizes in regard to the city here or in regard to individual counties. I think this should be sufficient to give a Deputy the trend. I could not agree that I should give statistics in relation to any named school. It could also lead to all kinds of odious comparisons because for many reasons there may be a different pupil-teacher ratio in various schools and this would lead to my having to explain in detail the situation in relation to each school. That would take up far too much time and would not be warranted.