Who to blame for schools crisis

IN recent weeks Education Minister Mary Hanafin has publicly blamed local authorities for the school places crisis which has led to the establishment of primary schools dominated by foreign nationals in areas such as Balbriggan and Diswellstown/Porterstown in my Dublin West constituency.

While criticism of planning officials and indeed some councillors is warranted, I cannot allow the minister’s attempt to absolve herself from any responsibility to go unchallenged.

During my three years as a member of Fingal County Council, I fought hard to secure school sites and oppose over-development, including attempts to rezone even more land in the Diswellstown/Porterstown area.

In most cases I got little help from members of Ms Hanafin’s party and I certainly never got any support from the Department of Education.

When we argued for a new secondary school site to be reserved in Castleknock, the department advised the council it was not needed. Now we know Castleknock needs two.

When we argued for a primary school site to be reserved as part of Hollystown development we got no support from the department until after we decided to ignore their advice and reserve it anyway.

Where sites have been reserved, the department regularly fails to buy the entire site making it impossible for schools to expand.

At least a dozen school sites reserved by the council many years ago still have not been acquired by the department. In the past few weeks, Fingal’s county manager has granted planning permission for more than 100 new homes in Diswellstown and an apartment development in Clonee. Despite the shortfall in school places in these areas, the Department of Education stayed silent, leaving it up to local interests to argue for proper school planning.

The ESB, the NRA and Iarnród Eireann regularly make planning submissions when their interests are affected. Why doesn’t the department?

Ironically, while the Minister for Education chastises local councils for building too many new homes, the Minister for the Environment and Housing regularly criticises them for not building enough.

The school places crisis is a systems failure and everyone must accept responsibility.

Rather than trying to shift the blame onto local councils, school boards, the archbishop or even parents, the minister should take charge of the situation.

This problem can be solved by implementing a few simple reforms:

1. The establishment of a section in the Department of Education to review planning applications in shortfall areas.

2. Reform of the planning process so that all large developments follow the integrated model that is being used in Adamstown.

3. Resurrect plans to establish regional education boards to oversee school management, catchment areas and admission policies.

4. Declare a moratorium on residential development in areas where there is a school places crisis and embark on a massive investment programme to retrofit these areas with the educational infrastructure they desperately need.

It’s that simple. All that’s missing is political will.

Leo Varadkar TD

Leinster House

Dublin 2