I wish to thank the Chair for giving me this opportunity to raise what is a very important issue for the people in one of the few last remaining genuine villages on my side of County Dublin. In St. Mary's national school, Saggart, on 30 September 1992 — which is the requisite date — the school roll was one pupil short of the necessary number to retain a fourth teacher. The number necessary to retain a fourth teacher is 94 pupils. There were 92 pupils on roll that day; one pupil has recently left the school but was eligible to be counted. Therefore, the shortfall is one pupil. Accordingly, the school is to lose a teacher because of being one pupil short of the required number. This is bureaucracy gone mad.
The numbers increased by two above the 94 within days of 30 September. The parents have made numerous requests with the support of all local public representatives for the retention of the fourth teaching post.
The INTO, which was wrongly cited at one parents' meeting as being an obstacle to the retention of the post, has, in fact, written to the Minister calling for the retention of it. In recent years £70,000 was spent by the Department on refurbishing this four classroom school. It is a nonsense that one of these classrooms should be empty because of the overstrict interpretation of regulations. Clearly there are exceptional circumstances here.
In addition, both industrial and housing development plans for the environs of Saggart will inevitably lead to a growth in pupil population within a few years. It is shortsighted in the extreme to allow this school to fall back to three teachers. There are precedents for Ministers allowing appointments or retention of teachers in such circumstances. In Kingswood, Tallaght, last year, and in a school this year, under the Minister's own patronage, in Marlborough Street I understand that such concessions were made. Accordingly, I call on the Minister to meet with the parents of the pupils of this school — I understand a meeting has been set up for next week — and most expecially to meet the reasonable demands for the retention of the fourth teaching post.
I am somewhat puzzled as to why this should have arisen. I am advised that in circumstances where the numbers rise above the requisite figure within days of 30 September a certain amount of legitimate creative accounting might have been engaged in. I am not sure why a crisis was allowed to develop but it is crazy that because the roll was one pupil short a very important school in a village community in County Dublin has been allowed to fall back to three teachers. It is an area where a lot of development is planned in the immediate environs of Saggart and it should not be allowed to run down. I appeal to the Minister, even at this late stage, to meet the representatives of the parents next week and retain the assistant teacher.
