“I will need to apply to 10 schools purely because we aren’t in the catchment area for anywhere I’d send her so I need to be over-cautious.”
THIS IS JUST one of the many testimonies from parents in Dublin 8, an inner city Dublin suburb that has been woefully neglected when it comes to secondary school provision.
Half of the children in this area are without secondary school options. That means that by 2026 there will be 2,135 students from Dublin 8 commuting right across a packed, choked-with-traffic city every day. In a climate crisis.
Despite there being five existing secondary schools in the area, the current provision does not reflect demographics. The latest census showed that the numbers in this country identifying as Roman Catholic are falling, yet there are no multi-denominational schools.
We are a group of parents who set up the Educate D8 advocacy group in 2022, to tackle this issue head on. We realised that there have been decades of underinvestment in secondary schools here. Dublin 8 is a great location, it’s vibrant, multicultural and has a great community spirit, but when it comes to families, it has been treated as an afterthought by successive governments.
Perhaps they viewed it as a transient population, one with few votes for the main parties. But that’s not the case anymore, Dublin 8 is changing. It has one of the fastest-growing youth populations in Ireland, with a 30% increase in children aged 10-19 from 2016 to 2022. As a group, our primary objective is to secure a much-needed, inclusive post-primary school for the children of the area.
Last week’s Budget 2025 provided welcome increases in education funding for this country. There were many initiatives in the budget to be welcomed, and with an election in the offing, this government is keen to remind us just how much money there is sloshing around in those coffers.
The debate around the €9 million funding for smartphone pouches has caught many headlines since. Whether you agree or not, it’s a sign that when the government prioritises issues like these, such as smartphone use and children’s mental health, they will tackle them with gusto and put their money where their mouths are.
As parents of children with no secondary options, we are asking the government to do the same for us. Education Minister Norma Foley promised an education budget last week worth almost €12 billion, the highest ever amount. All we ask is that after being ignored for decades, we finally get our fair share of this with the provision of a new inclusive secondary school and much-needed upgrades to the existing schools in our area.
There’s no question our capital city has had a tough time in recent years and there are many challenges facing Dublin now. There are issues around addiction, homelessness, neglect, traffic, the cost of living, antisocial behaviour and so on. Dublin dropped in the league of tables for liveable cities this year and there’s now an understanding that much needs to be done in relation to planning, transport and investment to help it grow into a truly liveable city, one that serves not only office workers and transient tourists but active, engaged, sustainable communities. Adequate provision of school places for families is a huge part of that.
Dublin 8 carries its own share of challenges, but it has the potential to play a huge role in supporting a new Dublin in the coming years. Inchicore, part of Dublin 8, was recently been voted by Time Out as one of the ‘coolest places to live’ so why is the government not backing the area with funding? The community of Dublin 8 is committed to living in the area, but the challenges facing families around school provision for their children are putting huge pressure on them.
One Dublin 8 mother spoke to us, saying, “I grew up in the country and spent my entire childhood on a bus to school, hail rain or snow. Myself and my husband have lived in Dublin 8 for almost 20 years and are worn out paying a wildly high mortgage, like many other families in the area. That’s the price you pay for living in this city, but we told ourselves it would mean we could cycle to work and school and that it would bring opportunities for our children in relation to access to education”.
“Now, it appears that the only feeder school from our primary is an Educate Together on the other city of the city, meaning our children would have to spend over an hour each way to school. This sends me into a rage, why is Dublin 8 such a neglected area and why are we working every hour of the day to live here to be left with no choice?”
Another parent has just been through the process of applying for secondary schools and has had to settle for a school on the other side of the city, which is taking a huge toll on her 13-year-old daughter.
“We applied for 14 different secondary schools for our child and attended multiple open evenings. As parents, we had an idea of the type of school our child needed and we also wanted specific subjects. We were on multiple waiting lists. We didn’t get an offer from two preferred schools closer to home and in the end, we picked the school we thought would best suit our child based on what we were offered.
“However, it is an hour commute each day by multiple busses and more if one of the busses is delayed or cancelled (which happens regularly). We supplement by lifts where possible. My child attends an iPad school but their bag is extremely heavy regardless, which adds to the burden of the long commute.
“The kids in the new school come from all parts of Dublin and there is no real sense of community so far. My child really misses their old friends and regularly asks why there wasn’t a local option for them all to go to. Becoming a teenager is stressful enough, why aren’t we making this transition smoother by keeping kids in their friendship groups in local secondary schools? One of the reasons we picked the new school was because it offered a particular subject however this option has now been cancelled due to teacher shortages.”
Our group has had multiple interactions with the Department of Education and looks forward to meeting Education Minister Norma Foley this week to highlight the discrimination our children face and to plead our case for a new post primary school for the area.
So far, the interactions with her department have highlighted what we feel is a lack of comprehension of how decades-old underinvestment has impacted the area. The department’s forward planning modelling system and responses to us assume that because children have traditionally been forced out of the area for secondary school, they are happy to continue to do so into the future.
The assumption seems to be that we should be grateful and appreciative that there are options for us 30-60 minutes away, despite the fact that we are at the bottom of the pecking order for these options due to not living in the catchment area, and with no concern whatsoever for the physical and emotional impact long commutes or the breakup of communities and friendships has on our children.
According to Dr JoAnne Mancini from Maynooth University, when planning where to build new schools, the Dept of Education considers a number of criteria. It looks at current and future population growth in an area. It looks at capacity in existing schools. It takes into account intake ratios — this is the ratio of children from primary school in a school planning area versus the number of children in secondary school. However, contrary to what you might expect, it actually gives preference to areas where MORE children attend secondary school in the area, than those that have huge gaps in secondary provision.
For example, the intake ratio in Booterstown/Blackrock is the highest in the country at 305%. This means that there are three secondary school places in the area for every child that leaves primary school. In Dublin 8, the intake ratio is 55%, one of the lowest in the country, meaning that just over half of the children in the area continue to secondary school in the area.
Even more incredulous is that the Dept of Education applies “a discount” to areas with a lot of fee paying schools. So, you can imagine our reaction in Dublin 8 when Blackrock was granted a new multi-denominational school ahead of us. Of course, we believe all children should have a choice and welcome this for the children in the area, but we struggle to understand how our area keeps getting ignored, while new schools pop up every year or two in the more affluent suburbs that are already well catered for with regard to secondary school provision.
Harold’s Cross, Sandymount, Goatstown and Blackrock have all been provided with multi-denominational secondary schools in recent years. Dublin 2, 3, 5 and 8 are the only parts of the city left without fully inclusive secondary schools, despite these areas being the most diverse and having the greatest need.
Recent census data shows that while 67% of Irish people identify as Catholic, this is much lower in Dublin’s Inner City, with fewer than one in four people across North, South West and South East inner city LEAs identifying as Catholic. In Dublin 8 only 38% of people are Catholic. Across Ireland as a whole, Norma Foley announced plans to increase the number of post-primary students now attending multi-denominational schools.
Across Dublin, 42% of post-primary schools are now multi-denominational, reflecting the choice families wish to see. In Dublin 8, however, one of the least Catholic areas in the country, families do not have access to inclusive, multi-denominational secondary education and are forced to leave the area and wait at the bottom of a waiting list until a place becomes available in another catchment area.
One Dublin 8 mum, Susie, said, “When I moved to this country I was shocked to learn that the majority of public schools are religiously affiliated. Having come from the US, where the separation of church and state – and secularism of schools – is enshrined in law, the Irish education system feels the wrong way around to me.
“Having lived here for over 20 years now, I’ve learned that it’s not just me who feels this is outdated; the majority of my Irish friends and family, and my children’s classmates’ and friends’ parents would also like to see the system updated to reflect modern values. Most people I know want their children to be educated in an environment free from religious influence or affiliation.
I’ve also learned that the ability to find that depends on where you live. Now that I live in Dublin 8, I understand we are at a huge disadvantage in terms of educational choice and, unless something changes soon, we like many others will have to travel outside of our local area when my children reach secondary level. Living in such a central part of the city, with its history, culture and community spirit, I find it astounding that Dublin 8 families are not supported to grow their community through their child’s school experience.”
Louise Fitzpatrick is a spokesperson for the Educate D8 group.
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