St. Francis Junior National School in Priorswood is short just one pupil. All five local TDs attended a meeting there. I am very proud when Dublin Bay North TDs come together on educational issues. While we differ politically, we have one passion, and that is representing north Dublin. The fact that all the constituency’s TDs are here shows this. A total of 40% of the pupils attending this school are from the Traveller community. Many of them are arriving in this school and need this support. The school is short one pupil and it is losing a teacher. There is a precedent for an additional teacher to be allocated. When a school misses out by just one pupil and loses one teacher, the system is wrong and it needs to be changed.

Sentiment score: 0.03

At the end of the Minister of State's response, which I realise the Department officials wrote for him, he said the appeal was unsuccessful. Who made it unsuccessful? I would love, with all the Deputies present, to invite the them to Priorswood and Darndale and show them the children and the teachers, who are working as hard as they can. The cost of an extra teacher compares favourably with the foreseen disadvantage that will affect the children's lives. The loss of one pupil should not determine the educational outcome for the entire school.

Sentiment score: -0.16