Secondary school enrolment “crisis”

Irish times reporting a number of first years due to start in September will in fact need to homeschool due to no spaces available in local schools.

Parents in part of Kildare, Wicklow, Dublin, Galway and Cork have been unable to secure first-year secondary school places in their local areas in advance of the coming academic year.

We’ve really let ourselves down when we have no room for kids to attend school. We are surely well past the point of serious concern now.

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/education/2024/02/06/parents-without-secondary-school-places-for-children-amid-enrolment-crisis/

Real Donald Trump

Definitely nothing to do with importing over 130k people in a short space of time.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121731973#Comment_121731973

Definitely but on the other side the government have allowed this while simultaneously doing nothing to increase already struggling public services, such as healthcare, schools etc.

But let it not be forgotten that school overcrowding has been a major problem for donkeys. It was a problem when I was in primary school 20 odd years ago. My classes were all over the recommended numbers from the DOE.

The immigration is the straw that broke the camels back if anything. Its not the problem necessarily it rather just made sure we can’t ignore the fundamental issues we have let slip for years.

Like for Christ sake every major TD is planning their Paddy’s day trips and we’ve got first years who can’t get a place in school. It’s a bloody disgrace and lazy one liners are another bullcrap distraction from the mess in front of us.

Years of neglect of public services? Ah here no it’s the immigrants sure. And like a Simpson’s episode we just stand there repeating it angrily and pointing blame because it’s easier than facing the real issues.

IMMIGANTS. I KNEW IT WAS THEM! Even when it was the governments terminal incompetence I knew it was them!

Real Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121732014#Comment_121732014

All the blame lies with this incompotent government.

buried

This government is literally doing everything in its power to destroy the entire country. It's doing a great job already, so what's the next step? Destroy the future to go along with it.

buried

It's gotten to the stage I'm actually looking forward to seeing what comedic idiotic clownf**kery comes next. The running of the country is like a modern reality version of "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". At least them two lads wanted to get home, the way its going here, we are going to have no home left with the f**king eegits starring in our version.

SEPT 23 1989

Can’t get a doctors appointment for days?

Can’t get a roof over your head?

Can’t get your child into a local school ?

the ones who chant “welcome here” never face these issues

Why is that ?

private healthcare

home ownership or funds inherited to buy in the future

private education

so easy to pontificate when you have these safety nets to fall back on

but if they were going toe to toe with their aspirations of their new Ireland they would change their minds very quickly

buried

"forced to stay at home"

The clown government must be under the impression that every 13 year old is afflicted with the same dose that Dee Forbes has.

TheValeyard

And if they can get a place in the school, they might not get their subject choice due to the lack of qualified teachers in certain subjects.

Think the 'bump' that primary schools had experienced in numbers is now obviously beginning to make its way to second level.

The cynic in me, would wonder if the government think this is just a temporary five or six year thing and just wait it out, while making half arsed attempts to do actually anything about it.

Real Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121732105#Comment_121732105

All self inflicted too, with is even more infuriating

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121732032#Comment_121732032

And yet you are trying to also blame immigrants

Real Donald Trump

...

Only today pretty much refused an appointment with our family GP for the youngest with a nasty cough.

Told to call Caredoc after 6pm. Yeah where the answer to everything is a tablet or the emergency department.

The infuriating part is it’s almost definitely just a chest infection or something that needs an anti biotic or other medicine that either way would require a 5-10 min visit.

Yet despite being with the same place for nearly 15 years we can’t get an app and are sent elsewhere!

Can’t understand how this is happening tbh.

Cheddar Bob

Here's two honest questions.

What happens if you barge in and say, I pay my taxes, I live nearby, I'm not budging until you get my child a place. That you will stay all day if you have to but that you are not leaving until there is a place found.

Seriously. This nonsense happens because people take it on the chin.

As for doctors, why don't you just use walk in no appointment clinics?

buried

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121732343#Comment_121732343

The custodians of your country, the people you pay much tax to are literally turning the place into a diabolical kip. That's what is happening.

tom23

And the folk you reference - they are on here in abundance. they are like terminators model 101 - they never stop ever.

Yup country is all over the place.

tom23

god forbid.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121731973#Comment_121731973

Clearly this will be best solved by burning schools down that educate refugees? /s

Real Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121732404#Comment_121732404

Oh ffs really? Christ above

Mrs OBumble

Without immigrants, the health service would grind to a halt.

It's a shame the Irish language requirement keeps them out of teaching.

Peter Flynt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121732429#Comment_121732429

It doesn't keep them out of teaching. Foreign teachers are allowed to register without any knowledge of the Irish language.

jmayo

This isn't new problem.

But the situation has, like everything else, being made disproportionately worse by the numbers added over last couple of years.

The number of secondary school kids are known years in advance and yet the Dept of Education, local planners can't get off their useless fooking holes and build additions to schools or entirely new schools.

I know some parents in North Wicklow that couldn't get their kids into schools a few years ago.

A new school was planned for Greystones for years, but hadn't been built, still hasn't btw.

School in Kilcoole couldn't offer places to kids in the village itself.

Only when parents protested outside school did that useless piece of shyte Donnelly show up.

That other useless piece of shyte Harris wasn't to be seen either.

They have built loads of houses in Newtownmountkennedy, Roundwood, Ashford and there are no new schools.

Of course Wicklow Co Co are overjoyed with their development plans for these villages, but do jack shyte to look after schools or anything else.

Oh and last autumn issue was some of school bus routes didn't start and Bus Eireann and their rules made it worse.

So no school bus routes for some parents even though paying money for tickets.

You couldn't make this shyte up.

And this is just one county.

Other counties have had same problems where loads of houses built in small towns/villages but no facilities and no additional school places planned for local towns.

Boggles

The main problem around this time is little Johnny gets accepted into 4 schools but his parents don't bother telling the other 3.

The schools don't communicate with each other either.

Another problem is schools cherry picking the hurlers, footballers and Rugby potential stars that live 30 miles from the school. It has been happening for decades and continues to do.

But the main problem is with the County Councils, they will grant planning permission for the 500 house development primarily on the basis that they will earn a fortune on fees, infrastructural needs for the short to mid term are secondary.

There was a case a few years ago where the Education forward planning department highlighted to a County Council after they gave the go ahead for a large development that a school would be needed in the mid term.

The County Council agreed and sold the department of education a plot of council land for a million plus the council deemed suitable for a new school.

When it came to build the school, the Council rejected planning permission on the land they sold them.

Epic Muldoonery.

amacca

The issue here is a system that rewards gombeens, sleeveens, liars, obfuscators etc etc............and even more depressing I think the alternatives would probably be worse, still its at the stage where you feel different twats have to be elected to break any expanding influence and power the current twats are cultivating/consolidating.

But ultimately if any one individual or group did get in and tried to to the right thing you feel they wouldn't last long until they would upset some area of the electorate and find themselves out on their ear(s) because ultimately the right thing usually comes with a price for someone or some group and the noisier/more influential/or just plain lager they are the greater the hazard in doing the fair and decent thing......

The system doesn't reward or incentivize working for the good of the whole as much as working for oneself and lets face it number one is most individuals number one priority (so there should be incentives not to give in to that built into a system that is supposed to be for the collective good - within reason - I'm not advocating socialism nice and all it is as an idea - it should remain an idea imo given our nature).

Anyway I just think the system rewards the promise them everything and give them as close to nothing as you can or in some cases use divide and conquer tactics to take stuff away from them so its not suprising when it slowly grinds towards disintegration.

It could be worse, it could be some tin pot dictatorship/socialist shithole or economic basket case with the gdp of travelling circus that just declared itself an independent state.......Lets hope it doesn't get there, the pessimist in me thinks its just entropy, thats what we are as a collective. A bunch of **** morons that make lives harder on ourselves.

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121732406#Comment_121732406

Well that's the answer used in housing

kippy

There is a capacity issue I believe but it is been made worse by people "enrolling" their kids in more than one school, which messes up the numbers until the dust actually settles.

Some schools have been charging "fees for art etc" with enrollment in order to weed out those who aren't serious about going to that school up using it as a backup option but again came under fire last week for doing that as well.

There's obviously issues but they aren't being helped by the behaviour above, but the behaviour above is trying to address issues with capacity/location in the first instance no doubt.

witchgirl26

The problem honestly is the lack of planning which isn't a governmental issue at the Dáil level but a local council issue. My area for example has 5 primary schools. Varying sizes of intake for junior infants from 40 - 120 being taken in. A lot of these schools are new or have expanded in the past few years as more houses went up in the area so there was more demand for creches & primary schools. However no forward thinking was done that these junior infants will need secondary school places in 8 years time. There are 2 secondary schools. And one of them is literally only just built. With the result that most of the current crop of teens in the area are getting on a bus to go to a school in another area.

As for the whole thing with applying to multiple schools - sometimes you have to. No point putting all your eggs in one basket & not getting it & then really not having a place. The new system means though that you can know by January & refuse the other places so that they're released out to the waiting list that might be in place.

Again though it comes back to the county council in the area not correctly planning for the future when giving planning permission for housing estates & primary schools that secondary schools will be needed too.

Sunny Disposition

Successive governments have failed badly to provide services. Their only success is getting American companies in. But we have terrible hospitals, schools, a police force in crisis.

Northernlily

We've reached the tipping point under this sham of a Government. State services are literally falling asunder before our eyes. Incredible.

There will be a mobilisation of all strands of the population into protests this year.

For anyone paying attention- it was evident how incompetent the Government have been for a long time but that has not resonated with a lot of the population within their bubbles. Now when people start to see that they cannot send their children to school or get basic doctors appointments they will start paying attention.

This is ALL on bad Governance, departments working in silos and a lack of planning for population growth. All of it.

Gatling

In my local area we have 5 primary schools and only one secondary school,the next area over would be the same 3-5 primary schools in a relatively small area but only one secondary school,

Makes Zero sense the primary kids will all graduate and have to go somewhere, add population increases both natural and artificial with various government officials telling us we have to prepare to double the population at least, that all well and good but when they have failed the population of 5 million people what hope have we got with double or more of the population,