Vol. 442 No. 10
54 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Education whether she has received a communication from Fingal County Council concerning the non-provision of a footpath and associated works at Hartstown Community School, Dublin 15; and, if so, if she will ensure that the necessary works will be completed.
To date I have not received any communication from Fingal County Council concerning the non-provision of footpaths and associated works at Hartstown Community School. However, this matter was referred to Dublin County Council road administration section in 1993 as footpaths, etc, outside the school site ar a matter for the county council.
55 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Education, in view of the concern of persons (details supplied) in Dublin 15, if she will clarify the position in relation to the catchment area of the new second level school for the Castleknock area, Dublin 15; and whether children in the Portersgate and Clonsilla Village areas and pupils at St. Mochta's national school will be included in the catchment area, as is their wish.
In general, catchment areas are defined by assigning identified national schools to a particular post-primary centre. However, in major urban and suburban areas, such as Castleknock, there are no clearly defined catchment areas — pupils in these areas are not specifically confined to any particular school catchment area.
The consultants' study which led to the recent decision to provide a new post-primary school in Diswellstown, Castleknock, had regard to the needs of the areas referred to by the Deputy.
The Deputy may be assured that an adequate number of pupil places will be available to meet the expected demands on the new school.
56 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Education if a school (details supplied) in Dublin 12 will continue to have the same teacher numbers next year in view of the special case outlined in their letter to her of April 1994, and the contents of the report of the Special Education Review Committee of October 1993; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
The school referred to by the Deputy is recognised by my Department as a school serving a disadvantaged area and, as such, has an additional concessionary teaching post and receives additional capitation funding at the rate of £17 per pupil.
As stated in my recent announcement on the 1994 Education budget, I propose to allocate fifteen additional co-ordinator posts to the home school community liaison service at primary level with effect from September next.
These extra posts will facilitate a significant expansion of the service and the schools to be targeted will be selected from among those already included in the disadvantaged areas scheme.
The process of selecting schools for inclusion in the expanded home school community liaison service is currently under way in my Department and the needs of the school in question will be considered in this context.
Plans for the establishment of a preschool programme are well advanced in my Department and a decision on the areas selected for inclusion will be taken shortly.
The initial phase of the programme will involve the establishment of eight preschool projects. It is my intention that these projects will be located in areas of particular disadvantage and that they will make use of a developmental approach to the needs of very young children, with qualified teachers, and the active co-operation of parents.
