Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin published details on Wednesday of 23 new primary and two second-level schools which have been approved under the school modernisation programme. These include a new primary facility for Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa in Laytown, Co Meath, which has been the focus of attention for several months. Due to the pressure on existing accomodation there, junior infants are being taught in the school's PE hall.
The controversy at Laytown, and the acute shortage of school places in other areas, including new suburbs around Galway, in west Dublin and in Newbridge, Co Kildare, raise important questions about the capacity of the Department of Education to plan for future demand. It does not enjoy a strong track record in this regard. In the 1990s, teacher training places were curtailed at a time when the primary school population was increasing. This resulted in a major shortage of trained teaching personnel and a proliferation of untrained teachers in primary schools.
The problem has only eased in the past two years as the number of trained teachers has, at last, begun to keep pace with the demand from schools.
Today, the department faces the challenge of anticipating school needs, especially in new satellite towns close to our major cities. It should not be a difficult task. With a little joined-up thinking, all major housing developments should only be approved when provision is made for schools. But this kind of strategic thinking has not always been evident. As Labour's Jan O' Sullivan has pointed out, "the crazy practice of building housing estates first and schools later is one that simply has to end". Over the next decade, the problem of meeting school accommodation needs will probably get worse before it gets better. An increasing birth rate, inward migration and greater participation in education will exert further pressure on the system.
That being said, there are some encouraging signs that the department is becoming more proactive in relation to future demand. It has begun a process of public consultation on anticipated school needs in some Co Westmeath towns. It is also assessing future school accommodation requirements across the N4/M4 corridor and in developing areas in Mayo, Limerick, Meath, Louth and north Dublin. A public consultative process with the wider communities in these areas is also planned.
It is to be hoped that this kind of approach will prevent a repetition of the appalling situation we have seen in recent months, when many parents have been unable to find a place for their child in their local area.