School Accommodation Dail Éireann — 2025-02-27 ============================================================ Ruth Coppinger (PBP), Dublin West The reality is that both areas need secondary schools. I will give the demographics. With all due respect, the Department of Education has had an inglorious history of misplanning educational need in this area and, I am sure, in many others. Ongar, where Ériu Community College is currently located, had the highest birth rate in 2024, according to the CSO. Some 32% of the population is under 18, so where are they to go to school? The only school in the area is at capacity. Fingal, overall, has the youngest population in the country, so there is going to be a massive need for schools in all locations. I know the need in Tyrellstown, which is an area in which my daughter went to school. It needs a school as well. That is the reality. We are asking the Minister to stop the penny-pinching. People should not have to campaign for schools. They should be able to get a school. There are no transport links whatever between both areas. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-02-27/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:53:33+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-02-27