Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 23 Jun 1993

Vol. 432 No. 7

Adjournment Debate. - Limerick Secondary School Places.

Mr. Clohessy

I wish to share my time with my colleague, Deputy Des O'Malley.

The problem facing 101 pupils and their parents in the Limerick city region in not having secondary school places available to them for the start of the next school year is totally unacceptable. This appalling situation is a source of great concern and anguish to these pupils and their parents. This is an appalling situation for these pupils and their parents and is a source of grave concern and anguish to them. I ask the Minister to do everything possible as a matter of urgency to resolve the problem and allay the fears of these people. This problem has been ongoing for more than a month and while the number of pupils affected has been reduced from 160, there is still a total of 89 boys and 12 girls who are due to leave primary school in the next week who wish to start secondary school in September.

The parents of these children have mounted a very effective, reasoned and informative campaign to highlight their plight and deserve better than they have got to date. Last week they came to Dublin to bring their complaint and frustration to the gates of Leinster House. When Deputy O'Malley raised this matter with the Minister for Education on 26 May last she told him she had met representatives of parents and assured them that no pupil would be left without a place in a second level school next September. That was a month ago and the problem still exists.

Starting secondary school is a difficult experience for children, but when they do not know what school they will be attending or whether there will be a place for them at all it is most unacceptable. Every other pupil leaving primary school in the next week knows what school they will be attending and their parents can plan their books, uniforms and other needs. However, these 101 children in Limerick and their families are in limbo. The Minister should convene a meeting of all secondary school principals in Limerick as well as the chief executive officer of Limerick Vocational Education Committee in order to find a solution to this problem, not only for next September but on a long term basis, so that the problem will not recur next year. The people of this country, including the people of Limerick, are providing a total of £1.8 billion for education this year and one of the basic returns must be the provision of places for every child who wishes to go to secondary school. The children of Limerick and their parents are entitled to nothing less.

Mr. O'Malley

I support what my colleague, Deputy Clohessy, has said. It is regrettable it has to be discussed at 12.35 a.m. but that underlines the urgency of the problem facing these children and their parents. This problem has arisen to a limited extent in the last two or three years since the system was changed in Limerick. It was resolved quickly every other year but this year has not been resolved. In spite of numerous promises made to me and others by the Minister for Education, she seems to have done very little about the matter in the past six weeks since the problem arose. This is a cause of grave concern to the children and parents concerned. Some of the children have been informed they will not even be allowed stay on in primary schools. At a time when numbers coming out of primary schools are dropping, as they are this year, it seems inexcusable that this difficulty should arise and that more than 100 children are in this position as we come towards the end of June.

The Minister for Education will simply have to stop making promises and do something about the matter now. The numbers that have to be accommodated next September are less than the numbers that had to be accommodated in earlier years. Therefore, there is no excuse for the fact that they are not accommodated. Those children and their parents demand that something be done immediately so that they do not have to suffer throughout the summer.

Mr. Aylward

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. The fact that it is being discussed at 12.35 a.m. is an indication of the concern of Deputies about the problem. The Minister and the Department are very much aware of and concerned about the situation which has developed in Limerick city regarding the intake of pupils into post-primary schools for the purpose of commencing their post-primary education next September.

There are at present 15 post-primary schools in the city which take in pupils at first year, junior cycle level. The Department is aware that each year for some years past a number of children experienced difficulty in getting a post-primary school place in the city. The Department accepts that the accommodation situation in some of the post-primary schools is tight at present and that there is in the short term a peaking of annual output of children from the primary schools in the city.

The situation has been complicated, however, by the practice of some schools taking in pupils from outside the Limerick city post-primary catchment area and by the unwillingness of some parents to consider placing their child in a school other than that of first preference.

It was with a view to resolving this situation that the post-primary managements in Limerick have since the 1991-92 school year adopted a uniform enrolment policy involving a common application form on which parents are required to list schools of greater preference, and a common assessment on a common date. Regrettably, however, this system has not succeeded in eliminating the problem of where a proportion of pupils still find themselves without an offer of a school place for September next as the end of the current school year is reached.

The most recent information made available to the Department indicates that some 100 children still remain unplaced. In this regard the Department's main responsibility is to ensure that overall an adequate number of post-primary places exist in Limerick city to meet the demand. Over the past number of weeks the Minister met concerned parents, and Department officials met both parents and school authorities in Limerick city.

The Minister has assured parents that no pupil will be left without a place in a second level school next September. It has been made clear by the Minister and the Department that if extra resources are required to ensure places for these children they will be made available.

Negotiations with a number of school authorities in the city are ongoing with a view to resolving the problem. As Deputies will appreciate, the matter is a difficult and sensitive one. However, the Minister and the Department are hopeful that the matter will be satisfactorily resolved very shortly.

The Dáil adjourned at 12.40 a.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 24 June 1993.