Deputy McManus has given me notice of her intention to raise the matter of the crisis in second level education places in the Kilcoole, north Wicklow area. Deputy McManus has five minutes in which to present her case and the Minister has five minutes to reply.
Adjournment Debates. - Kilcoole (Wicklow) Second Level Education.
The difficulties being experienced by parents in the Kilcoole-Newtownmountkennedy-Delgany areas of County Wicklow arise out of a serious lack of forward planning by the Department of Education. In 1985, following the major campaign by local parents, the then Minister agreed to provide a second level school in Kilcoole. Wicklow County Council at that time required a 50-acre site as a suitable location for the school which was to be developed by the County Wicklow vocational education committee. Following the change in Government, the decision to locate a school in Kilcoole was overturned and the problems now relate to children who are unable to get places in their local schools.
The expansion in the population of north Wicklow has been very rapid and is likely to continue in the future with the opening up of the Bray by-pass and in particular with the development of a multi-million pound sewage plant in Greystones. The matter of school placement came to a head this year when St. David's school in Greystones — a very good school — was unable to meet the need and the demands on it coming from parents in the catchment area. Up until a few months before Christmas, St. David's, because of the greatly increased numbers that had built up in the locality, were unable to take in many of the children who had applied to them for second level education. The principal of this school and principals in other schools in the area are in the invidious position of having to turn away children.
The logical solution to this problem is the provision of a new second level school in Kilcoole. The land is available and the commitment is there from the County Wicklow vocational education committee — and, indeed, from the Department of Education in the past. If anything, the need is now greater than it was before. The children who would expect to be able to go to school in their own area now have to go to Wicklow town which is a considerable distance away. In future years there may be a restriction on places there because of demand in Wicklow town.
The difficulty is compounded by the fact that there is no school transport available for these children. The school bus which travels from Newcastle would not be able to accommodate the extra children and it does not stop in Kilcoole where most of the children live. The anomaly is that children going to the Protestant second level school in Wicklow town can avail of a school bus which travels through Kilcoole and takes some of the children from the locality.
The lack of a resolution to these difficulties is causing much concern and many parents are anxious about the future of their children's education. The difficulty in getting bus facilities for them is critical and the Minister for Education has a responsibility to sort out this problem. We are coming into the summer term and there is still this terrible anxiety hanging over the parents of Kilcoole and surrounding areas.
In the longer term I urge the Minister to provide the school that was promised and was so cruelly cancelled with the change of Government. It would be a good investment and one which would recognise the rapid development and future expansion of the area. In the short term the critical problem of school transport must be resolved. It is bad enough for children to be taken out of their local communities and have to travel long distances without an additional financial burden being placed on parents. Nowadays we are all conscious of the dangers of busing children long distances. It is certainly not the ideal solution but as a short term measure it is the one which must be provided urgently.
I would ask the Minister to put in place an extra bus service which will meet the needs of the parents of Kilcoole and which stops in the village of Kilcoole. Also, can she give a commitment here and now that a new school will be provided for Kilcoole and the surrounding areas of Newtownmountkennedy and Delgany so that we can meet the needs of the most rapidly growing population area in the country.
I wish to thank the Deputy for raising this matter. It gives me an opportunity of outlining the present position with regard to second level education places in the Kilcoole-north Wicklow area. This area is in the Bray-Greystones catchment area of County Wicklow. At present pupils in the Kilcoole-north Wicklow area get their education in Greystones, Bray and Wicklow town.
Excluding St. Gerard's Thornhill, which is fee paying, and the recently established all-Irish post-primary school, Coláiste Raithin, there are five second level schools, three secondary, one vocational school and one community school, in Bray.
The current enrolment in these schools is 3,367 pupils. Overall accommodation is tight in the Bray schools, with the exception of St. Thomas's vocational school and Ballywaltrim community school where places are available.
St. David's secondary school is the only second level school in Greystones. It is co-educational and has an enrolment of 730 pupils this year. Traditionally this school caters for approximately one-third of the output of pupils from the Kilcoole Newtownmountkennedy primary schools. The management authorities of St. David's have recently indicated to the Department that they will be unable to accommodate all the pupils seeking places there next September. Unfortunately, because of the restricted nature of the St. David's school site the option of the provision of extra accommodation to meet the demand for places there cannot be considered.
In view of the growing accommodation problem in the area, the Department is examining as a matter of urgency the question of what arrangements can be made to meet the immediate and short term post-primary needs of the Kilcoole-north Wicklow area. The possibility of providing transport for pupils in the areas in question to adjacent post-primary centres, for example, Wicklow town, where pupil places are available would be considered by the school transport section in conjunction with the transport liaison officer for County Wicklow. Indeed, in a reply to a recent Dáil question, the Deputy was asked to provide particulars of the children who wish to attend post-primary schools in other catchment areas in order that their needs may be investigated. The particulars of the children in question are still awaited. Applications for catchment boundary transport to Wicklow for the 1993-94 school year will, on receipt of the appropriate application form, be considered by the County Wicklow transport liaison officer, after all fully eligible children have been accommodated.
The longer term needs of the Kilcoole-north Wicklow area are also being examined in the Department in the context of the increased demand for post-primary places in the area and in the light of an application by County Wicklow Vocational Education Committee for a new second level school in Kilcoole.
As I have already indicated to the Deputy I am to meet, at the invitation of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, Deputy Jacob, the chairman of the vocational education committee and my colleague, Deputy Kavanagh with the vocational education committee to discuss that issue. I note that some of the facts I gave in my reply raised some eyebrows from the Deputy. I wish to assure her that we can continue this conversation after my time has expired.
For clarification purposes I have actually submitted to her Department the names of the children which the Minister asked for.
Thank you.