Scott calls out Foley on School Places

Green Party Councillor Lourda Scott suspended standing orders at the February meeting of Greystones Municipal District to propose that they write to the Minister of Education Norma Foley requesting clarification on the exact number of children without a secondary school place in September 2024 and what the proposed solution is to accommodate them.

Branding the Department “utterly inept”, Cllr Scott was strongly supported by the elected members, with the Department of Education singled out for having created what one councillor called a “crisis” in the area, and another saying it needed to “hang its head in shame”.

Councillor Scott remarked how she was bringing the suspension of standing orders “very reluctantly”, as she was being contacted “daily by parents who are distraught over the uncertainty surrounding their child attending secondary school in September”.

"It is important to say that this issue is all about young children, some with special needs, who are being treated abysmally by the Department of Education around their basic right to education. The pressure on secondary school places has been at crisis point for the last five years and the Department of Education has abysmally failed to provide enough places for the community, despite repeated requests for an overall strategy and concrete solutions to be provided,” she said.

She pointed out that almost three weeks ago, the Department said some 120 students were without a place in the area.

"This was contradicted by a meeting officials had with TDs where numbers of 70- 80 were mentioned. At that time, Greystones Community College released an additional 48 places. Since then, the Department has not been able to confirm how many more places are needed or where those children are to go, despite repeated questions.

“It seems to me,” she continued, “that children are being used as pawns in this game” and that it is “beyond unfair what stress they are being put under”.

Calling the Education Minister and her Department “utterly inept”, she added that she had “no faith that writing to her will achieve anything” but that it behove the elected members to do so.

"I would like to propose that we would write, as a council, expressing our concern, asking very specifically, how many places are needed for September 2024 and what the plans are for those children, with a timeframe.”

Cllr Scott was backed passionately by the other elected members, with Cllr Tom Fortune seconding her proposal.

He remarked that while the issues with schools have been “going on for years”, it had now become “a crisis” and “the Department is the problem”. He said that it needed to be tackled “collectively” as he had “seen posts on social media that TD X and TD Y are pushing this and that”.

"That doesn’t mean anything,” he said, “because this is a crisis".

In his capacity as chair of the Board of Management at KWETB, where Cllr Scott is also a board member, he said he was well aware of what the problems are, and while the KWETB could be pushing harder, the real problem lies with the Department.

“The Department needs to be called out,” he said, “because this crisis has been building year on year. This is a massive issue,” he continued, “and we do need our TDs to come in here and sit down with us and work as a team, because it is only going to get worse.”

The ominous tones were echoed by Cllr Derek Mitchell, who said there was ample opportunity for the Department of Education to have acted more quickly given there was ample opportunity to have purchased a site that was zoned for these purposes. The town will soon need another school, he said, even if the current issues are resolved for this year.

"Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of what’s going on locally, [knows] they’re building everywhere and we must need schools.”

He referred to figures which showed the population was heading towards a 20pc growth over the forecasted target for 2028, “so clearly land is needed and should be bought,” and it is “shocking” that the Department didn’t have the foresight to do so.

Cllr Gerry Walsh also called for “clarification” around the numbers, which seem to be inconsistent, and while GCC have offered 48 places, “how they are going to do that is still up in the air”, bearing in mind that the school is still behind on its building project.

Concluding that there is “no clarity” from the Department, Cllr Scott asked that the focus in any correspondence is specifically on the shortfall of places for 2024, and what is the actual plan to address it.

Separately, the councillors agreed to contact the five sitting TDs for the county with a view to holding a meeting to discuss the crisis.