While I wish in the first instance to draw the Minister's attention to the individual circumstances of two national schools, I also wish to highlight the need for a specific policy in the allocation of resources to all disadvantaged national schools located in the Government's designated drugs task force areas.
The schools are St. Michael's CBS national school at St. Michael's Estate, Inchicore and Our Lady of Lourdes national school, also in Inchicore. Part of this area and its community have been devastated by the heroin scourge over the past 20 years. Few communities have suffered as much. The work the local national schools are doing is indispensable to the efforts being made to help the most vulnerable children in extremely difficult circumstances.
St. Michael's CBS has children from the Traveller community, children of refugees, children from a residential home as well as children from St. Michael's Estate. This is a local authority flats complex which, because of acute social problems, is scheduled to be demolished and replaced with modern houses. While the school is grateful for the resources it has, its authorities believe that "taking a teacher at this stage would greatly add to their difficulties". The school is just two pupils short of the required number to retain its present staff.
Ironically, over the past year the school principal has attended 25 meetings of the Government sponsored integrated services project on which the Department of Education and Science is represented and which, I understood, is designed to help maximise resources in this pilot area. Little wonder that he is appalled at the prospect of the opposite, losing one of his teachers rather than obtaining additional help.
The second school, Our Lady of Lourdes national school, had a shortfall of seven pupils in September 1999 but since then it has taken in eight additional children and will have 40 new entrants in September this year. It is likely to qualify under the developing school criteria but since it has been told by the Department that it will lose a teacher, the school is extremely anxious that in light of its improved numbers the directive that it lose a teacher be withdrawn. The school points out that its existing staff is stretched to the limit trying to maintain a high standard of education in an area of increasing deprivation and disadvantage.
The response of Government to the heroin drugs crisis was to designate 13 areas, mainly in Dublin, suffering severe deprivation where the heroin scourge was most concentrated. Drugs task forces were set up in partnership with the communities in these areas. The Government also established pilot integrated services projects in the most deprived communities, St. Michael's Estate being in one of them. A special Cabinet Sub-committee on Social Inclusion and Drugs, chaired by the Taoiseach, was also formed to approve new strategies to maximise resources in these designated areas, or so we are told. The general aim of these measures was to provide additional assistance targeted at the communities most vulnerable to the drugs crisis.
Will the Minister ensure that the Department of Education and Science plays a full and meaningful role in this process. I do not believe it has yet done so. Education, especially at primary level, is critical in the fight against drugs and social disadvantage. Flexibility should be introduced when considering all disadvantaged national schools in drugs task force areas so that where the enrolment of pupils falls marginally below the quota agreed with the INTO, these schools should not lose teachers. It would be preferable and in line with apparent Government policy if national schools in drugs task force areas could be allocated at least one additional teacher over the number for which they would normally qualify.
I have raised this issue with the general secretary of the INTO, Senator O'Toole, on more than one occasion and I do not believe he would oppose such a move. It would have been preferable if the INTO had itself proposed these additional measures since it represents the staff in these schools and is aware of the extent of the problem its members face.
The source of the heroin scourge lies in social deprivation. It follows, therefore, that national schools are in the front line and must get all the resources they need if the most vulnerable children are to have any chance to break the cycle and secure equality of opportunity. While I have referred to two such schools there may well be others in drug hit communities facing the same loss of teachers. I make the same case for them.
