Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle. He makes a very astute comment about the Department of Education and forward planning, because that is at the heart of this. Today more than 100 parents and students took time to come to the Dáil to voice their anger and frustration at the relocation of Ériu Community College. For many of them it was the very first time they have ever been here or been at a protest. That shows how angry they are. Every so often I have submitted a parliamentary question to the Department on the subject of this school and each time the answer was that no decision had been made. Two weeks ago the Department released the news a permanent site for Ériu had been identified in Hollywoodrath. It needs to be said that the parents of Ériu students in Hansfield and I are delighted the community of Hollywoodrath, Hollystown, Tyrrelstown, Bellingsmore and the wider hinterland are getting a new post-primary school. It is absolutely necessary because there is a need for another post-primary school there. There should not be any winners and losers in this game, but unfortunately there are, because the people of Hansfield are losing. Neither the parents, the parents’ association, the school nor the board of the board of the DDLETB were consulted on this decision by the Department of Education’s forward planning section.

A letter sent to parents by the Department shows a really worrying lack of concern for students in this case:

It is acknowledged that re-locating the school may cause difficulty for some of the current school community. However, it is hoped that the impact will be reduced with careful management by the school authority. It is anticipated that the current school population will be close to completing post primary education in advance of the re-location.

What this actually means is the Department knows most of the current cohort of students are going to be sitting their leaving certificate that year or are going to be in fifth year. The Department knows they will be affected by this decision. It shows a lack of care for the students by the Department for whom it is established to provide an educational system. As I said, there has been zero consultation about this decision, which certainly was not made by people who live in Dublin 15.

I believe it is also the first time a school has ever been relocated outside its catchment area. This means future students who live in Hansfield will not be able to access it. There is only one post-primary school left in the area. The other school is outside the catchment area and is oversubscribed every single year. Hansfield has seen in excess of 3,000 homes built in the past ten years. Barnhill, which is across the railway, has a planning application for 1,000 homes. Kellystown also has a planning application for 1,000 homes. That is why I talk about the forward planning aspect of this decision. There are plans for three primary schools in the same area over the next few years and three sites have already been identified. That will bring us to six primary schools in the area and one post-primary school in Hansfield.

Hollywoodrath is 8 km away from the catchment area. If anyone knows Dublin 15, Hansfield is in the southern part of it and Hollystown is in the most northern part. It is ridiculous to think parents are going to be travelling from Hansfield to Tyrrelstown. I appreciate that is probably normal in rural areas, but it certainly is not in a very densely populated area of Dublin. It is also worth noting there is no public transport link at all between Hansfield and Tyrrelstown. There is a bridge that allows people get from Hansfield over to Hollystown, but the bridge is only one way. People cannot come back that way and must find an alternative route. There are two other bridges further away, but people cannot come back the way they came. Again, it shows a clear lack of understanding by the Department on this that it never consulted anybody in Dublin 15, not even the DDLETB and the parents’ association. The Department made this decision and it beggars belief.