The lack of school places in Dublin 15, detailed on page 12 today, raises serious questions about education planning. Some 200 four and five year-olds have been left without a place in local schools because demand greatly exceeds supply. Parents say they have virtually no prospect of enrolling their children in any local school. Labour's Joan Burton, who has helped to highlight the problem, says this is the fifth year in a row that children have been essentially locked out of very good local schools because of the acute accommodation shortage.
It beggars belief that the authorities at national and local level did not anticipate the problem. More than 8,000 new homes have been built in the area in recent years but no adequate provision has been made for additional school places. The Department of Education, for its part, says it responds to local demand from parents or church authorities anxious to build a school. But this kind of "hands-off" approach is not credible at a time when areas like those in Dublin 15 are expanding at a very rapid rate. And in fairness, the department appears to be adopting a more proactive approach in Co Louth where - as reported on page 2 today - it is seeking provision for both primary and post-primary schools as part of a major proposed extension to Drogheda.
The Department of Education and other Government departments have extensive information on population trends (which will be supplemented by the results of the forthcoming census) and on housing provision, and it is incumbent on them to respond by providing essential local services. In the case of Dublin 15, Minister of State and local TD Brian Lenihan acknowledges that the Government was caught on the back foot but maintains it is now beginning to cope.
In the Dáil last week, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin outlined a range of emergency measures to help alleviate the problem. As "an exceptional measure", the board of management in one local school will consider taking a fourth stream of junior infants next September. And her department is in discussion with a range of school patrons about the need to provide further accommodation in response to the huge demand.
In all of this, there is the sense of stable doors being bolted. The school accommodation crisis in Dublin 15 should have been addressed long before it reached its current scale and not just by the Department of Education. The Department of the Environment and local authorities should not allow housing on this scale without first satisfying themselves about the provision of basic services such as schools and other education resources.