I welcome the fact the Minister of State from the Department of Education and Youth is here to take this Topical Issue. As the Minister of State knows, I represent Dublin Fingal East. It is a rapidly growing area, with house building in east Fingal, and all towns are growing rapidly. This is good and we need houses. With this come a lot of young families and pressure on local infrastructure. This is not a new issue that I am raising. I raised this in advance of the previous academic year and I have to raise it again now in advance of the next academic year. The issue is the lack of school places in junior infant classes in St. Marnock's National School, Portmarnock. I have had the same response from the Department to parliamentary questions and Topical Issues, which is that the Department is aware of enrolment pressures in Portmarnock and has put in place a number of measures to support the schools. Unfortunately, these have not manifested or worked and children this year were unable to secure places in local schools. This will only be compounded next year. I have real concerns about how the data the Department has is being examined. I have heard a number of times through parliamentary questions that first year enrolments nationally were expected to peak in the 2023-24 school year. However, this national level data does not apply to an area such as Fingal accurately because it is a growth area where houses have been built in recent years and continue to be built. The reality on the ground is very different. Last year primary schools only took children until a November birthday in first round offers and December birthdays in second round offers. This year children will need to be born in September 2021 or earlier to secure a place in their local school. This means children will have to be five before they start school in Portmarnock. We know the rules on the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme and provision for two years. We know the impact it has on parents having to stay in work, which predominantly falls on the mother. Ensuring children have to start at the age of five is disgraceful. According to the Department's demographic projections, peak demand in Portmarnock has not been reached. Despite this, construction of the new Malahide Portmarnock educate together national school was not selected to go to tender this year and has been delayed for at least four years. Eight months ago when Deputy McEntee was Minister for Education, I shared figures with her and it is important to do so again. In 2022, the census captured the under-five population in the area as numbering 602 children. These children would have been in the area by April 2022, which is the time of the previous census. Taking an even division of the ages from birth to four years, that would equal approximately 120 children requiring a junior infant place and a subsequent primary school place in each year from September 2022 to September 2026. However, since the previous census, several large housing developments have been built in the area, namely, Dún Sí, Skylark and Drumnigh Manor, which have increased the population greatly. The housing developments are, of course, welcome. However, they need to be paired with increased infrastructure and school places. To illustrate that point, I have worked out examples for the developments and the estimated expected number of children needing primary school placements for these estates alone. The Skylark development has 982 units proposed for development in the area, providing mainly three- and four-bedroom family units. Nationally, based on 2022 figures, 69% of households in Ireland are families. The Fingal county average for the number of children per family is 1.42, which is a conservative value based on anecdotal evidence in the Portmarnock area. Therefore, using these conservative estimates and the 982 units, it would be expected that there will be 962 children in that estate alone.

Sentiment score: 0.10

It is difficult to find some comfort in the Minister of State's response for my constituents in Portmarnock. The current school year was bad because some students missed out and had to travel awkward distances to other schools for placement. Based on projections, it seems very likely that some siblings will not get into St. Marnock's National School in the coming year. That information is from good sources and the situation is only going to be compounded. The issue with Portmarnock is not just that it has new estates, but that the traditional part of the village has also seen major regeneration. A lot of younger families are moving into the houses that have been there for a long time. Pressures are increasing and we need a temporary or quick solution for the upcoming academic year. The Department needs to re-examine how it determines where resources need to go and how school planning areas are constructed. There are two main primary schools in Portmarnock, with a third, St. Nicholas of Myra National School, just outside the village. They are the schools for Portmarnock. They need investment. Pupils can walk and cycle to them safely, which is everything we want for local schooling as regards how pupils travel to school. I ask the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to put in place a proper solution for this issue. If we start pushing out enrolment dates to require that students be five years old at enrolment and put at risk the ability of siblings to enrol, we really are in a bad place, and it is a place we could avoid with some better planning.

Sentiment score: 0.01