Vol. 285 No. 11
andMrs. Geoghegan-Quinn asked the Minister for Education if his Department have had any discussions with the parents in the Mervue/ Renmore area, Galway regarding future plans for secondary education in the area; and, if so, if he will give details of the meetings.
24.
andMrs. Geoghegan-Quinn asked the Minister for Education whether a new secondary school for boys and girls will be provided in the near future at Mervue/Renmore, Galway.
25.
asked the Minister for Education the number of pupils enrolled for 1975-76 at Moneenagesha technical school, Galway; and the estimated capacity of the school on completion of the proposed extension.
26.
andMrs. Geoghegan-Quinn asked the Minister for Education if he considers that the proposed extension to Moneenagesha Technical School will adequately meet the needs of children in the Renmore/Mervue area of Galway City who will be seeking secondary education over the next ten years.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 23, 24, 25 and 26 together.
Following discussions with local school authorities regarding the future provision to be made for second-level education in the Mervue/Renmore area, my Department have sanctioned an extension to the Moneenagesha Vocational School to enable it to cater for 800 pupils. Taken in conjunction with the number of second-level places available in Galway city, generally, it is considered that the proposed extension will meet the second-level education needs of the area for the next few years, and that the question of the provision of a further secondary school in the area does not arise at present.
However, there are indications that a second school will be required in due course and my Department are keeping the situation under review. In this connection, they will welcome discussions with representatives of local interests, including parents, at an appropriate time. No such discussions have, however, so far taken place.
There are 602 second-level pupils enrolled in the Moneenagesha Vocational School in the 1975-76 school year.
Were not discussions taking place with the parents before the decision was taken by the Department to extend the Moneenagesha Vocational School?
As far as I understand the situation, no request for such discussions has reached my Department from the parents of the Mervue/Renmore area. We cannot trace the receipt of any request from the people of that area.
Is the Minister aware that the parents of the Renmore/Mervue area totally reject the suggestion that the proposed extension will meet existing needs?
As the Deputy will appreciate on reflection, in assessing the number of places to be provided in the extended school at Moneenagesha, account was taken of the fact that a significant proportion of pupils in the Mervue/Renmore area attend second-level schools outside the area and that there are surplus places in most of the secondary schools in Galway city. To do otherwise would lead to an unnecessary expenditure of scarce capital resources and indeed might create problems for other secondary schools in the Galway area, particularly those with surplus places.
Would the Minister like to say which school convenient to Renmore/Mervue has a large capacity in which to absorb pupils from that area?
The Deputy will appreciate that in urban areas, of which Galway is one, we do not break them down into catchment areas and therefore the question of convenient schools does not arise at this stage.
Surely when the Minister was in Galway on the very laudable occasion of electing Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn to the Dáil, he saw that area, a large new area which obviously should have had a secondary school?
I have no doubt that the future development of the area will ensure that it will do so but as I have pointed out to Deputies there is surplus accommodation in the area, taking into account the development at Moneenagesha.
That was said about the Salthill area and it was found not to have been so.
