In the programme for Government of 2016 many promises were made in the area of education. The Government said it was committed to delivering a school capital investment programme for extensions and refurbishment to cater for additional school places. It also stated significant funding has been secured as part of the capital plan. To the people of Bandon and its surrounds these promises were false and misleading.

On 22 February 2018, in answer to my question, the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, who was standing in for the Taoiseach, stated he was pleased to be able to respond positively to my request and that the Department of Education and Skills approved permanent accommodation for St. Brogan's college in Bandon comprising four mainstream classrooms and two resource teaching rooms. He stated it had been given the green light with funding from the Department of Education and Skills and the Government. He said he was very pleased this was the case. It is now two years on and not a shovel has been turned on this project. The parents of secondary school going children in Bandon and its surrounds are furious as 220 pupils applied for entry in 2020 to the excellent St. Brogan's college, which will be pushed to the extreme to take 118 children. This will leave more than 100 children without a place.

The only co-educational secondary school in Bandon is Hamilton high school which is full to capacity and has refused dozens of children entry in September 2020. Parents who live next to the schools and parents who are within walking distance of either school have had their children refused entry as the schools are already operating at over-capacity. These parents are not taking this sitting down. At a meeting on Monday night, they told me they are being advised to educate their children at home or to take them to a secondary school in Cork. These parents will not accept this. They have had their children in schools in Bandon from preschool through to national school and for dozens to be told there is no second level school place for their child is unacceptable. They are angry, and rightly so.

We need a short-term solution and a long-term solution. The population in Bandon is expected to grow out to 2025. The Department of Education and Skills has been caught napping as there is no long-term plan for Bandon and, shockingly, no short-term plan either, with promise after promise having been broken, leaving people in an unprecedented crisis. The Department of Education and Skills needs to carry out an immediate assessment of educational needs for a fast-growing Bandon. It needs to consult urgently with second level schools in Bandon and to consult with the community and parents, and to do so urgently. The long-term plan must be a new, standalone community-type college for Bandon, similar to those which exist in Kinsale and Skibbereen. Bandon needs this school and it needs it urgently. This is the long-term plan. The short-term plan to cater for the children excluded to date in Bandon is temporary classrooms at St. Brogan's college and Hamilton high school. This is by no means a perfect solution as St Brogan's college, which was built to cater for 400 children, is now catering for over 600 students and it may have to cater for more than 700 in light of the crisis unfolding for so many families.

Hamilton high school is at over-capacity and there has been no future vision for educational need for Bandon school-going children for decades. I have been raising this issue in the Dáil since I was elected in 2016. I have raised it every year at every opportunity, including twice in the past three weeks. I know of the pain parents are suffering. Can the Tánaiste tell me today that every child who has been refused entry to St. Brogan's college or Hamilton high school, Bandon will be educated, as they have been all their lives, in Bandon from September 2020?

I thank the Deputy. This is an issue that has been raised this week by Deputy Murphy O'Mahony and Senator Tim Lombard as well. Capacity is not an issue for the vast majority of post-primary schools and schools can enrol all pupils that are seeking a school place. Where issues exist, Department of Education and Skills officials actively engage with all the relevant parties to resolve them and will do so in regard to Bandon. The Department is aware that enrolment issues have arisen in a number of areas in regard to post-primary school places for September 2020, including in west and east Cork. To plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses the geographical information system, using data from a range of sources, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country is likely to arise. With this information, the Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises to determine where additional school accommodation is needed. Major new residential developments in a school planning area have the potential to alter demand in that area. As part of its demographic exercises, the Department engages with local authorities to obtain the up-to-date information on significant new residential developments. This is necessary to ensure that school infrastructure planning is keeping pace with demographic changes as there is a constantly evolving picture with planning for new residential accommodation.

On Bandon, as the Deputy will be aware, there are three post-primary schools servicing the Bandon school planning area: Bandon grammar school, which is fee-paying, an all-girls secondary school, and, as mentioned by the Deputy, St. Brogan's college, which is coeducational. The Department has approved capital funding for St. Brogan's college, Bandon to expand school capacity significantly. This permanent extension of four classrooms and other support rooms has been delayed as planning permission has been appealed. It is now envisaged that construction will commence on site in quarter 2 of 2020, with the school accommodation becoming available in 2021. In the interim, the Department has provided grant aid for the rental of four prefabricated units and these are currently in use. Officials from the Department are continuing to actively liaise with the school principals in Bandon to ensure that every child will have access to a physical school place in 2020.

Anyone who is giving the advice that parents should be home schooling or sending their children to Cork city for a school place is not giving good advice. This is a problem that should be, and will be, sorted between the Department of Education and Skills and the school principals involved to ensure that every child in Bandon has a school place to go to.

I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. As I said earlier, the people of Bandon are rightly angry. Year after year there has been under-investment in their town. The flood relief scheme is now under way, long after the destruction of business properties and many hard working people having been put out of business. The southern by-pass remains unfinished despite Government promises that it will be finished. If the plan for the proposed northern relief road goes ahead it will bring chaos to Bandon businesses and motorists.

The Tánaiste mentioned in his reply that the lack of school places may be resolved in 2021. School enrolment for September 2020 is the focus of parents in Bandon. The parents have been told to educate their children at home or to take them to Cork to be educated. I have met the parents, who have told me that is what they are being told. This is not acceptable. The anger among parents is palpable, as they know promises made are not being delivered at huge cost to their children's education. The four prefabs already provided are not sufficient to cater for the children who need places in September 2020. Will the Tánaiste ask the Minister for Education and Skills to visit Bandon and meet the parents, allay their fears and assure them that the problem will be sorted by September? On behalf of the worried parents in Bandon, will they be able to have their children educated in a Bandon secondary school in September 2020?

I have already answered "Yes" to the Deputy's question. I know Bandon well. It is a great town and we should not be talking it down. The Government is investing in Bandon and will continue to do so. There is a particular problem in regard to post-primary school places. The Government has committed to investing in a permanent solution but it will not provide significant accommodation until 2021. I reiterate that officials from the Department continue to actively liaise with school principals in Bandon to ensure that every child will have access to a physical school place in 2020, which is the issue raised by the Deputy. As stated earlier, we will resolve the issue through the use of temporary accommodation while the permanent building project proceeds and is, hopefully, completed in 2021. In the meantime, we need to ensure that parents can get the answers that they need for September 2020. The Department is committed to doing that.