asked the Minister for Education if he will sanction the extra classroom accommodation in their secondary school required by the Christian Brothers, Nenagh, County Tipperary, in view of the impossibility of accommodating applicants for enrolment for 1973-74 and later years in the existing classrooms.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Nenagh Secondary School.
10.
Mr. R. Burke
In considering applications for additional accommodation, my Department must have regard to the overall accommodation situation in the centre concerned. In the case of Nenagh, there is surplus accommodation available in the vocational school and it is up to the two school authorities concerned to work in co-operation with one another so as to ensure reasonably full utilisation of all the available accommodation.
Is the Minister aware that the parents of the children concerned have expressed a clear wish that their children would enrol in the Christian Brothers schools in Nenagh and is the Minister prepared to make any special concession in the circumstances in so far as there is not anything like adequate accommodation to meet the number of students who intend to enrol in that school?
Mr. R. Burke
I am aware that in the Christian Brothers School in Nenagh there is accommodation for 300 pupils and an actual enrolment of 293, that in the Vocational School in Nenagh there is accommodation for 400 students and the actual enrolment is 260. I would have to have regard to the available accommodation in the centre, Nenagh, before I would contemplate spending public capital on providing extra accommodation.
Does the Minister accept that there is not adequate accommodation in the Christian Brothers School in Nenagh for the number of pupils who have applied to be enrolled there for next year?
Mr. R. Burke
I accept that.
In view of that, can we take it as the Minister's policy that henceforth parents will not be given a choice between schools at post-primary level but will, where there are two schools, have to enrol in the school which happens to have the vacancy irrespective of their choice? Is that now a matter of policy decided by the Minister?
Mr. R. Burke
The situation is as the Deputy well knows, having been in the Department previously, that——
I want to know the Minister's policy.
Mr. R. Burke
The Minister's policy is that the proper solution to this situation is to have co-operation between the two schools concerned. If the accommodation in the centre, between the two schools, is not adequate to cover the total enrolment then a new situation will arise.
Having regard to the fact that the schools are a distance apart, if it does not prove to be possible, does the Minister still intend to persist in viewing, in this town and in other towns, different schools as being the same centre for this purpose?
Mr. R. Burke
No, I would not persist but I would hope that co-operation will eventuate in a solution.
Deputy John Ryan has been trying to get in for some time.
If co-operation is not forthcoming——
Mr. R. Burke
If co-operation is not forthcoming, then I am faced with a new situation.
What would the Minister then do?
Mr. R. Burke
I would view the situation in the light of the circumstances.
In view of the situation in Nenagh and the distance between the Christian Brothers School and the Vocational School, which is about a mile, does the Minister not appreciate that the management and the education of the pupils would suffer in such a distorted centre? Would the Minister not reconsider the whole question in regard to the CBS itself as parents and pupils in the area are most anxious that the accommodation should be provided at the CBS rather than having to travel a distance of a mile?
Mr. R. Burke
If I cannot bring about what I consider to be the desirable co-operation between the two schools, then we will have to look for another solution, which might be the sanction of extra accommodation.