Cabinet row breaks out over scarcity of secondary school places
A CABINET row has erupted over the ‘utterly unacceptable’ shortage of secondary school places, with Higher Education Minister Simon Harris describing the system as a ‘mess’.
There are 81 pupils around the country receiving home tuition grants because they don’t have a school place, and even more students are still waiting to secure a place for the next school year, starting in September.
Higher Education Minister Simon Harris yesterday launched a scathing attack on the performance of the department of his Cabinet colleague, Norma Foley.
The row is the latest round of sniping that has become commonplace between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil ministers in recent weeks.
It comes after several Government TDs told the Irish Daily Mail that ‘doublespeak’ from the Government over the push for the reintroduction of a reduced rate of VAT of 9% from 13.5% for hospitality stemmed from friction between Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney and Finance Minister Michael McGrath.
Mr McGrath, of Fianna Fáil, has insisted that the higher VAT rate is not causing the surge of business closures in the sector, while Mr Coveney, of Fine Gael, has been campaigning for the reintroduction of the lower rate.
‘All politics is local. It won’t surprise you that even ministers never miss an opportunity [to apply political pressure],’ a source said.
Mr Harris, a Fine Gael TD for Wicklow, is the latest Cabinet minister taking aim at Fianna Fáil colleague Ms Foley, by saying that the Department of Education needs to get ‘much better’ at forward planning for identifiable population booms.
Mr Harris’s home town of Greystones, Co. Wicklow, is one of several fast-growing towns where the problem is becoming particularly acute.
However, Greystones Community College was able to commit 48 additional school places on Friday morning after engagement with the Department of Education.
‘My view is that the Department of Education needs to get much better at planning and much better at forward projection,’ said Mr Harris.
‘The stress and strain that they have placed on my friends, my neighbours and my constituents in Greystones – in my home town – is utterly unacceptable.’
Mr Harris said schools are ‘bursting at the seams’ waiting for extensions to be approved or for tenders to be awarded for the construction of new buildings.
He said the department could take those actions quickly, adding: ‘That would give schools the confidence to be able to assist the department in – quite frankly – a mess that is not of the schools’ making.’
Mr Harris said that Ms Foley was doing an ‘excellent job’ but heavily criticised the work of her department.
‘There are units specifically within the department that do have a role in relation to the planning, projection, population – and they’ve gotten it wrong in relation to my home town and I’m not best pleased about it, nor are my constituents,’ he said.
Under the Constitution, ministers are ultimately responsible for every act of their respective department.
A spokesman for Ms Foley said there was an acknowledgement that Greystones was a ‘pressure point’ but that no child would be left without a place for the coming school year. The spokesman did not respond to Mr Harris’s criticism of the work of the department and its implications for Ms Foley’s performance in office.
Social Democrats TD for Wicklow Jennifer Whitmore told the Irish Daily Mail the stress being felt by parents was not a new phenomenon.
‘It has been ongoing in Greystones and other fastgrowing areas for the last 10 years.’ Ms Whitmore said.
‘We’ve seen huge demand because of population increases and individual schools have to pick up the slack where the Government and the department have failed to deal with those population increases,’ she said.
A Department of Education spokesman said it had invested €4.3billion in school projects around the country since 2020 in response to the increase in demand, to ensure that there is a school place for every child.
Labour’s education spokesman, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, has called for action on the ongoing struggle faced by parents who are unable to find school places for their children at second level.
The current system, which
‘Mess not of the schools’ making’ ‘I am not best pleased about it’
reserves a quarter of school places for the children or grandchildren of past pupils, ‘perpetuates exclusion and elitism, exacerbating the challenges faced by families seeking quality education for their children’, he said.
Mr Ó Ríordáin said: ‘The difficulty faced by parents, particularly in commuter areas of Dublin, in securing second-level school places for their children is unacceptable.’ He added: ‘It is clear that the Department of Education must abandon the archaic policy of reserving 25% of school places for children and grandchildren of past pupils. This provision is a relic of elitism that has no place in our modern society.’