David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----because she has an understanding of deprivation and of the marginalised areas of Europe and has fought like a tiger for them. This is another case. I know she will not be dealing with this directly but I urge her in the strongest possible way to pass on the material I am providing.

This matter refers to a small school in Marlborough Street which I have visited on many occasions. On the first occasion I visited the school I was very apprehensive because I had been asked to bring some small physical object related to a book that the children could handle. I brought down Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, which was a Beatrix Potter figure that my mother had given me when I was nine.I absolutely cherish it. I thought they would break it or smash it or lose it or something else but they were so extraordinarily polite. "Please, Sir may I hold Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle?" There was not the slightest damage done. They were so respectful. They were so beautifully presented by their parents, so neat, so alert that and I thought how frightfully sad that without this school all these children in ten years time would be on the needle and on their way into the gutter and the grave. We are talking here not just about the education but about the lives of children in the north inner city which is the most depressed area in educational terms in the city.

I have been contacted by the management of the school because there is a problem about the retention of an additional teacher. Everybody agrees that good teacher–pupil ratios and early intervention are essential in helping these children. The principal writes: "The children in the school are losing out due to the disparity in teacher allocations that exist between this school and all the other DEIS schools in Dublin 1." In other words, there is an anomaly. There are other schools that have things they call "legacy posts". They managed to get in early and got extra teachers. This school does not have those. We cannot have a bureaucratic response when people's lives and welfare are at stake. The principal continues:

It is not without precedent that the provisions of circular 0010/2018 are not being applied. The fact is that it is not being applied to any of the DEIS 1 schools in Dublin 1. The Central Model Infants School to name but one example has 21 teachers with 170 children. [We have] statistics of low ratios that apply to the other DEIS 1 schools in Dublin 1. Scoil Chaoimhín is the exception in this case and the attached letter from the inspector will highlight this. [I have the letter from the inspector for the area who is outside the situation and is looking at in a clinical way and it is extremely forceful on the side of Scoil Chaoimhín.] We would be grateful if the Department could approve the retention of the teacher we had on a temporary basis in order to bring about some level of parity with the other schools in the area.

In other words, this school is accidentally disadvantaged within the system. There are two opportunities - we can behave like the English at the time of the Famine and apply a rigid economic theory and practice to this situation or we can behave like Irish people with a little bit of flexibility in the known interests of the children in this area. "We would be grateful if this could be dealt with as soon as possible in order for us to hold onto the teacher we had as she is still available for the moment." Here is somebody who is still available but who will not remain so for very long. There is an urgency about this situation. "To this end we would be grateful if you could respond to the Minister’s office without delay as the loss of the teacher to the school would likely become an issue with the parents of the school." There is also a possibility that a real row and mess would be created from this and that the parents will go to the media. I do not think any of us wants that. I certainly do not after my experience of the media. They are only in it for the story most of the time. We have not yet reached the stage when the media should be involved by the parents but I cannot guarantee that the parents will not go to them.

Here is a quote from the letter from the inspector: "As assigned inspector for the school, I am aware of the disadvantaged socio-economic background of the pupils almost all of whom Iive in an area which is characterised by high unemployment and deprivation." I live in the middle of that in an area where I have struggled to support, improve and regenerate a beautiful 18th century street. That puts me on an island of privilege in an area of gross deprivation. The divisional inspector "reported that a number of pupils in the school are currently resident in emergency and temporary accommodation and that this is presenting additional challenges for these pupils' learning opportunities and outcomes". Can the Minister of State imagine that? They are in emergency accommodation. They are living in hotels. Did we not see recently, a week or so ago, the wonderful, remarkable girl on television who was talking in tears about how, despite being a bright intelligent girl, she was being held back because she could not study in the kind of situation that is being described here?