I am disappointed the Minister for Education is not present, but I have great faith in the versatility of the Minister of State. Ballywaltrim is a new area of the town of Bray which has experienced rapid growth in population. The area now caters for approximately 10,000 people, 600 families live in local authority houses and private housing is predominately of the three bedroom semi-detached type. The largest local authority estate has an unemployment rate of 80 per cent and 41 per cent of families there are headed by lone parents.
Disadvantaged status has already been granted to the area by other Government Departments. For example, the Department of Enterprise and Employment funds a scheme for Youthreach which caters for the Ballywaltrim area. I want the Department of Education to provide similar status for the two schools in the area. The parish of Ballywaltrim which is relatively new, has major economic difficulties. Many parents simply cannot provide the voluntary contribution to make up the shortfall in funding even though they would like to support the schools in the area.
In common with other schools in the Bray area, the two St. Fergal's schools suffer from a lack of psychological and other backup services. Assessments carried out on children in those schools have shown that additional places are needed in the special classes and in the special school in the area, but those needs have not been met because the necessary planning is not in place. I accept this is not related directly to disadvantage status, but it is an important element in the difficulties facing those schools. While the Ballywaltrim school may not meet the overall criteria for departmental designation, a significant number of children in the school do meet those criteria. The number of disadvantaged children make up two full classes for each level throughout the schools, the equivalent of an average size school in the Dublin area.
In the junior school the proportion of disadvantaged children is increasing. In junior infants, 54 per cent of children live in local authority housing while in third class the figure is 42.8 per cent. Between the two schools there are 40 classes and approximately 1,300 children. It is obvious that many children are at a disadvantage and would normally qualify for designation status. The fact that the serious nature of the disadvantage is disguised by the size of the two schools should not lead to perpetuation of the injustice.
The staff of the schools and the community at large in Ballywaltrim are committed to developing resources to help the children of the area, but they require the support of the Department in their efforts. Last year I was disturbed that when one of the schools applied for a special resource teacher, the other school was told it would get such a teacher, but the decision was withdrawn without a satisfactory explanation. The designation status should be put in place now to maximise the chances of the staff of the schools succeeding in reaching the children most in need. As the children grow older the gap between those who achieve and those who do not will widen. As a public representative for Ballywaltrim I have a responsibility to ensure those children receive the best our education system can provide.
If those children attended a special school in the city centre there would be no question about them getting disadvantage status and it would not be necessary for me to take up the Minister's time making a case for them. The fact that they are part of a large pool of children should not reduce their entitlements. Disadvantaged status has not been granted to the children and the Minister should recognise their needs. If they were given disadvantage status it would make a real and discernible difference to their lives. Will the Minister consider the matter seriously? Otherwise the children will experience a double disadvantage.