I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for allowing me to raise this matter and I thank the Minister of State for being present. If Senator O'Toole arrives before I conclude, I would like to share some of my time with him.
Adjournment Matters. - Closure of Dublin School.
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I understand that the Sisters of Charity at St. Anne's national school, Milltown, Dublin 6, who are the trustees of the school, have given notice to the board of management that it is their intention to close the school. This has caused anxiety to parents who have children attending the school and it is an anxiety I share. I have to admit that over 50 years ago I attended that school myself. It was the first school I went to and it was the centre of education in the south-east of Dublin for many years. I pay tribute to the Sisters of Charity for the excellence of their educational programme in that area over many years. They run an excellent primary school and, attached to it, a secondary school.
The Minister of State might remember that last October I made a case for a multidenominational school at Ranelagh. Since then the Minister for Education has kindly put that school in this year's capital programme. I made the case because of the long waiting lists at that school and at other schools in the catchment area, including Donnybrook and Sandyford. There is a need for more schools in that area, which is extraordinary, because I imagine that the Department of Education has schools with a lot of empty rooms.
In this area there is a demand for primary education and there are two reasons for that. First, a number of private schools in the area that had junior schools have closed their junior schools over the last two or three years. This put great demand on the national schools in the area. Second, and it is to be welcomed, it is part of Dublin Corporation's policy to bring back more people to live in the inner city, and many houses which were in flats have now been changed back into family houses and people have come to live in this area of the city. That is welcome, but their children have to have places to be educated and that leads to an extra demand for primary schools in the area.
It would be foolish for the Department to allow a school of this nature to close. The board of management fully acknowledge the right of the Sisters of Charity to opt out of primary school education if they so wish. However, it wishes that some arrangement might be made with the diocesan authorities to keep the primary school running as a normal primary school, or, failing that, that some arrangement could be made with the board of management to allow them to run the school in the same way as the multidenominational school at Ranelagh — to give the parents an opportunity to run the school.
For the reasons I have stated, it would be a retrograde step to close the school at Milltown. It is a special school. It has 150 pupils and has a higher proportion of teachers per pupil than anywhere in the rest of the country because it has some special classes. Over a long number of years the Sisters have paid special attention to certain categories of young people who require education. They were first in the area of educating the children of travelling people and great credit is due to them for that. There are two classes in this school for mildly mentally handicapped children who progress through the primary school at Milltown and can then take their place in the attached secondary school and fulfil a secondary programme. This is a tribute to the educators of these children and the Sisters of Charity who run the establishment.
If I was the parent of a mildly mentally handicapped child who was at this school I would be anxious for the school to stay open. This school has a special role to play as well as being a normal national school and for that reason I ask that every avenue be examined by the Department to keep this school open.
I thank Senator Doyle for raising this matter and for being so quick off the mark. I have to answer this same matter later tonight on the Adjournment of the Dáil. I appreciate his sincerity in the points made and I assure him that there has been extensive consultation between the board of management and the Department of Education.
St. Anne's national school for girls, Milltown, is a convent school, the trustees of which are the Irish Sisters of Charity. For a number of years the trustees and board of management of the school have been considering the future of the school in the light of difficulties which have arisen.
First, the school has experienced a sharp decline in enrolments in recent years, down from 450 to 128 in the current school year and projected to decline further. Up to 85 per cent of the pupils come from outside the Milltown parish, so it cannot be regarded in any sense as a parish school. Second, there is a considerable debt arising from the day to day running of the school and this is increasing annually. Third, there are separate financial difficulties involved in maintaining a large building to cater for a relatively small number of pupils. It has also been estimated that significant capital expenditure would be required to bring the building up to a reasonable standard.
Taking all these factors into consideration, the trustees of the school have now announced that the school will close from the end of the 1994/95 school year. The Department is aware that this decision is not acceptable to parents and teachers in the school and I appreciate the concern expressed on the part of both groups. However, the final decision regarding the closure of the school rests with the patron and trustees. Every effort will be made to ensure that pupils will be adequately accommodated in other national schools. The position of the teachers currently serving in the school will also be given careful consideration.
Is there any possibility of further negotiations with the patron and trustees of the school with a view to keeping it open along the lines I suggested in my contribution?
There is no difficulty in having further consultations, but there have been a number of meetings. It also appears there is no possibility of amalgamating the school with another school in the area, which has been a problem. I will ask for a further meeting but I would be doubtful about its outcome.
The Seanad adjourned at 6.40 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 23 March 1994.