I thank Senator Nash.

Part of a mine collapsed in the area, resulting in major subsidence. The result was that many families had to leave their homes. The local community centre and GAA pitches were left completely out of bounds. As one can imagine, it was a major blow to the community in County Monaghan, and particularly for the people of Magheracloone. The local GAA club, Magheracloone Mitchells had no pitch to play on. Many clubs in such a situation would have folded up. However, I am glad to report that Magheracloone Mitchells did not do that. The GAA members pulled themselves together and availed of the services of local GAA clubs in Cavan, Meath and Louth to keep the show on the road.

The club went on to compete in the intermediate football championship in Monaghan and won the county title. Last Sunday in the Athletic Grounds in Armagh, it went on to win the Ulster intermediate football championship by defeating Galbally of Tyrone by 1-15 to 0-13. It is a fantastic story of a club and a community that refused to lie down. They galvanised themselves together and last Sunday afternoon, the club completed a fantastic task and now goes to play in the all-Ireland semi-final in a few weeks' time. It is an inspirational story of rising from ashes to glory to achieve such greatness.

I hope that the club wins the semi-final and goes on to win the All-Ireland title. I wish its members every success. They and their community are a shining example to the rest of the country.

There are demonstrations from time to time outside of this House. Today, a number of people were here protesting about changes made by the Department of Justice and Equality to the circumstances and way in which bingo is operated in various centres in the country. All of that is dealt under the Gaming and Lotteries Act, as amended.

The simple fact is that there is a far more serious issue that is not being addressed at all. I refer to the flagrant breaches of the law being perpetrated daily on our main streets in our main cities - Cork and Dublin I believe - whereby casinos, gaming arcades and amusement arcades are being operated without any appropriate legal foundation whatever. In the city of Dublin the local authority, many years ago, resolved to cancel authority for amusement machines, one-armed bandits and gaming machines being operated in arcades in the city. A case went to the Supreme Court about it. The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the local authority and held that the operation of these machines in Dublin, thereafter, was illegal. Since that time a number of these arcades, amusement places or casinos, as they call themselves on the outside, have cropped up now and are open. One of them, I am reliably informed, has in its entrance an ATM machine. This is absolutely illegal. There is no possible basis for opening and maintaining these places. They are exploiting the weak-minded, in my view, in an unconscionable way but, most important, they are breaking the law of the land. Members of An Garda Síochána have the right to visit premises and seize gaming machines, which are being operated illegally. That should happen right across Dublin. The Garda authorities in Dublin are not doing that. If this is being done on the advice of the Attorney General then I would like see why it is that a clear breach of the law of the land is being countenanced by the Attorney General. If it is not being done on the advice of the Attorney General then it amounts to a gross dereliction of duty.

Finally, I want to say that an awful lot of terrible misery arises from a gambling addiction. Gaming machines, such as they have in Britain all over the place and in Ireland in certain restricted places, subject to the entitlement of local authorities to decide locations, are an easy entry into addictive gambling. It is about time that the law was upheld. It is about time these places were closed. I would like the Leader to ask the Minister for Justice and Equality to come to this House and explain why it is that in the city of Dublin casinos and amusement arcades, with these machines, are operating flagrantly in breach of the law of the land? Why is that situation being tolerated? What do the Minister and the Garda Commissioner propose to do to stop it?

I share the concerns of Senator McDowell in this regard. Gambling brings with it tremendous hardship and pain for families. I have known people to take their lives as well as suffer the consequences of the debt that they find themselves in.

I rise here today to thank the Minister for Education and Skills for coming to visit Skerries and Rush in the past few weeks. He brought positive news about the go-ahead being given for a permanent extension to the community college. The bottom line is that we have a pressing and immediate problem as there are no school places for many children in Skerries and Rush.

The people of Skerries, in particular, are very concerned. The Minister very kindly pointed the way forward in terms of ensuring that the principals would come together under the auspices of the Department of Education and Skills to find a solution for some 60 children in the Skerries community area who have no place next year. Parents and children are frantic, and we need an immediate solution for next year. September of next year will be along before we know it. Parents are going to go through Christmas uncertain as to what lies ahead for their children. They want their kids to be able to go to the same school as their friends who they have been in school with for the last number of years. The clubs in Skerries want to ensure that they do not lose these children to other communities because they have to travel somewhere else to a secondary school.

What I am really asking for is for the Minister to ensure that this work starts as soon as possible before Christmas because this is not something that can wait. People need certainty. They have to make arrangements and decisions. I would also ask that the Minister consider a new school for the Skerries area because it is very clear that rather than resolving this issue, it will get worse as more houses are built in north Dublin.

I would be very grateful if the Minister would consider meeting the parents to reassure them. The most important thing now is to ensure the Department of Education and Skills gets the principals of the various schools in the area together and starts to address where children are going to go to school next September.