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Dear Michael,

Educate D8 is a community group representing families in Dublin 8. We have two main aims. The first is to secure the establishment of a new secondary school for our area. The second is to gain access to the consultation process on ethos and patronage.

For generations, our area has experienced under-investment in secondary education. As is shown by the Department of Education’s own studies, our local secondary schools can accommodate only about half of the children who live here. As a result, some recent groups of 6th-class students have been dispersed to as many as 14 different secondary schools. In contrast, in some other areas that have been awarded new schools in recent years such as Dublin 6-Clonskeagh and Booterstown-Blackrock, there is capacity for two or even three times the number of primary-school students in the planning area.

Our second aim is to gain access to the consultation process on ethos and patronage that is attached to newly-established schools. This is currently the only way that communities can have a say in the ethos of their local secondary school—as the Minister for Education recently confirmed, no Catholic secondary schools have changed ethos from Catholic to inter- or multi-denominational since 2000. Access to consultation on ethos is especially important in Dublin 8 because, although 62% of people in our area are not Catholic, 4 of our 5 secondary schools are Catholic and we have no inter- or multi-denominational school.

The Minister for Education recently stated that since 2000, more than 100 new secondary schools have been established in Ireland, of which 90 are multi-denominational. All we are asking for is to be treated equally.

As a South West Inner City candidate in the upcoming Local Elections, we would like to know if you will commit to supporting our campaign? We also hope you can help us by answering some of the following questions. We will share the responses with the wider campaign group, which consists of hundreds of parents across South West Inner City.

1. Will you address our concerns to the Education Spokesperson and representative on the Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science from your party?
2. Will you back our call for a meeting with Minister for Education Norma Foley and the Dept of Educaiton Planning and Building unit?
3. Will you request that the your Education Spokesperson/ member of the Education committee asks for a full review of the school planning decision making process (i.e. they fix the broken algorithm that favours areas already adequately provided for in terms of school places)?
4. Will you use your influence in the creation of the Dublin City Development Plan to ensure there is provision for a new secondary school for Dublin 8?
5. Will you liaise directly with us to identify potential sites for a new secondary school for Dublin 8, and ensure they can be zoned for education?
6. Will you ensure, as City Councillor, that Dublin 8 gets its fair share of funding for education from the Development Contribution School, and that this funding is directed towards the provision of a new school for the area, whilst also improving existing school facilities?

For more information on our group, please visit https://d8newschool.ie/. If you wish to engage further with our vibrant campaign for a new secondary school for Dublin 8, please join our WhatsApp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/Kl3PytsabTv1jsZfStgPTr
If you would like to arrange a call to discuss any of the above, feel free to reach out and one of the committee will come back to you.

We look forward to engaging with you further and wish you all the best in the upcoming Local Elections.

With kind regards,
Educate D8 Committee
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