Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 27 Jun 1996

Vol. 467 No. 6

Adjournment Debate. - Knocklyon (Dublin) Post-Primary School Proposal.

Mr. T. Kitt

I thank the Minister of State for coming to listen to my submission on the need for a post-primary school at Knocklyon.

A school is a focal point of the community. It is a place where dreams are realised, friendships are forged and plans are made for the future. I speak as somebody who has been a teacher for some part of my life. School is a place apart, yet a place at the centre. It is where character and personality are shaped. It is a place of learning, an institution yet in some ways a home. School should be an expansion of the family, a secure and creative environment where the individual feels free to grow, inquire and learn. The more connections and links developed between school and home the more enjoyable the learning experience becomes and the more secure the young person feels.

Alice Taylor vividly recounts her childhood experiences of school in her book, To School Through the Fields. In years to come the children of Knocklyon will write their accounts of an educational system that did not care about them, their dreams or the reality of their daily lives. These children will write of their journey to school through the choked up traffic chaos of suburban south Dublin and all because this Labour Minister for Education thought that they and their families were too well off.

Disadvantage has many guises and comes in many forms. The people of Knocklyon work hard, pay their taxes and make a valuable contribution to the development of this society. All parents want only the very best for their children. They want their children to make a similar contribution to the development of their community and country. I suggest it is not too much to ask for their basic rights. Looking for their basic rights is not placing somebody else at a disadvantage. Seeking post-primary education for your children is not being greedy. On the contrary every other parish in my constituency has at least one post-primary school in their area.

Knocklyon has a burgeoning population. It has few facilities, the result of bad planning and unabated property development. Its population is equal to that of many a large thriving country town. It has a primary school so large that the pupils are not allowed to run during break time, not as a matter of management policy as in other schools but simply because there is not enough room. These pupils disperse to 29 post primary schools in the South Dublin area. Knocklyon has no heart but the Minister for Education can give it one.

There is a proven need for a post primary school. The Minister and I can throw statistics at each other until the next election. People matter, children matter and futures matter. In my view that is the bottom line. The very future of the fabric of one of Dublin's fastest growing suburbs is at stake. The Minister has the answer. She can give Knocklyon a centre of educational excellence, a tribute to her own philosophy of alleviating educational disadvantage. She has it in her gift to provide the people of Knocklyon with a focal learning point for the community. By granting a school for Knocklyon the whole of the local population will be open to new educational experience. Knocklyon would be particularly well placed to take advantage of the Minister's well publicised aims in the White Paper of being inclusive and bringing all sections of the community, including business and enterprise, into the education process.

The Minister is denying many families the opportunity to avail of co-education. Her commitment to this ideal lies in tatters. She is preventing the forging of friendships, building a community and the betterment of society. Without communities there can be no society. In its place one would have human jungle without any values, connection or commitment to its future. This would result in breakdown.

By granting permission for the school the Minister would allow children to go to school through the fields, to continue to develop friendships formed at an earlier stage which can only help to build society. She would allow girls and boys to grow and mature together as young responsible and mutually respectful adults who will contribute positively to their community. She would open up countless opportunities for second chance education, further education and, most important of all, shared education between adults and children of the community. I can think of no other community which would benefit more from a post-primary school.

A community school means a school for the community. A community without a school can never hope to be a proper community. Will the Minister deny the people their legitimate rights or will she be the builder of dreams? For 17 years the people of Knocklyon have been patient but their patience is wearing thin and they are becoming restless. I share their impatience and restlessness.

Mr. O'Shea

I am grateful to the Chair and the Deputy for giving me this opportunity of clarifying the position concerning the Department of Education's site at Scholarstown Road, Knocklyon, Dublin 16.

The site was purchased initially by the Department in 1982 for the purpose of providing a post-primary school in the Knocklyon area. In February 1994, the services of a planning consultant, Dr. Michael Bannon of UCD, were enlisted to provide an independent assessment of the impact of demographic trends and housing developments in the area. The main conclusion of Dr. Bannon's report, which was published in September 1994, was that a new post-primary school in Knocklyon was not warranted.

In November last, following representations made by the Deputy, other public representatives and the Knocklyon Post-Primary Committee, the Minister for Education asked that the position be re-examined in the light of the latest data available. Dr. Bannon reassessed the position, taking account of current enrolment trends, school accommodation, existing and planned, and house building in the general area. He also took into consideration the Knocklyon post-primary committee's response to his original report and the assessment of it carried out by a consultant, Mr. Hendrik van der Kamp, at the request of the committee. Dr. Bannon concluded that developments since his first report did not affect his original recommendation that a new post-primary school in Knocklyon was not required.

It is the view of the Department that the demand for second-level school places in the Knocklyon area can best be met by providing additional accommodation at Coláiste Éanna, Ballyroan, and Templeogue College.

With regard to Coláiste Éanna, the first phase of the extension project, comprising 743 square metres and costing approximately £470,000, is now completed. The accommodation provided in this phase consists of seven general classrooms, a commerce room, a staff room, a social studies room and a language laboratory. The schedule of accommodation for the second phase provides for 2,000 square metres of accommodation. Architectural planning is under way for this project.

The planning of a 1,050 square metre extension at Templeogue College is also under way. The accommodation to be provided consists of four general classrooms, a language laboratory, a science laboratory and preparation area, a demonstration room, and art and craft room and a technology room. All the proposed works I described are intended to cater for the projected long-term enrolments in both schools, including the anticipated enrolment of pupils from the Knocklyon area.

In these circumstances, it was decided that the Scholarstown Road site was no longer required for educational purposes and the question of disposing of the property arose.

More recently, however, the situation relating to the potential use of the site has changed. An application for sanction to establish a Gaelscoil in the Knocklyon area has been made to the Department and is under examination. Given that the proposed school has not yet been sanctioned, it would be premature at this stage to make any definitive statement as to the implications for the future use of the Department's site. However, until a decision has been made on the establishment of the Gaelscoil and a technical examination made of the potential site requirements involved, the Department has decided that it would be prudent not to dispose of the site at Scholarstown Road and action in this regard has been deferred for the time being.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.15 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 2 July 1996.