Students from Rush take to the Dail to protest lack of school places available

Students from Rush took to the Dail this week to protest the lack of school places available.

There are currently over 100 children in the area on a waiting list to attend St Joseph’s school in 2019. This comes after 224 prospective students applied for places at the secondary school but only 120 could be accepted. Many parents in the Dublin suburb have voiced concerns about the lack of places for children in the area and hope that the protest this week will wake up the government to just how pressing this issue is. The school issued a statement on October 23 informing parents that all available places at the school has been allocated but unfortunately a large number of pupils could not be accepted.

"As you may be aware, the school recently completed allocating places for 120 new first years who are due to start in September 2019. Unfortunately, due to a demand for places, we are left with 104 pupils on our waiting list. Whilst the Board of Management are addressing this with the Department of Education, the Parents Association feels it is time that the voices of the parents and students are heard. St Joseph’s as it currently stands is inadequate for the needs of both the current and future students. Fingal has the highest levels of house building in the state but the necessary amenities required for the families in these homes have not been provided. We need a new school – there is limited space on the current site for more prefabs and our children are losing out. With this in mind we are, with parent’s permission bringing TY students into Dublin city centre to protest outside Dáil Éireann tomorrow Wednesday 24th October. We also welcome any parents available to join us and have requested support from our local feeder schools."

Fingal has seen a huge increase in the amount of houses being built in the area over the last few years but basic requirements, like additional schools or an expansion of the current schools have not been added to match the rising number of residents. Similar issues have happened in areas such as Tallaght when a large amount of homes where built there during the boom but very few schools were. With less than a year before these students are set to begin first year the pressure is on for this issue to be addressed.