Inchicore parent Jane Toolan expresses her struggle in finding a secondary school place for her daughter.

We have lived in the area for 13 years. We have a great community. When we bought our house, everyone told us there were very few schools in Dublin 8. We were upbeat: surely the under provision would be addressed quickly? 13 years later, with a kid in 6th class, we find ourselves questioning our original decision to buy here and most certainly our upbeat optimism that the government would see the need and fill the gap. We feel left behind and overlooked because of our post code. Do the kids in Dublin 8 not deserve the same access to education as the children in Blackrock? 

We are in a bind. We fall between two stools of underprivision in Dublin 8: the lack of a Gaelcholáiste in the area and the lack of a non-religious muiltidenomational English speaking school.  Our kids have not been baptised but have attended a Catholic Gael Scoil for their primary education (at the time we prioritsed language over religious ethos, due to lack of choice). We, as parents, are not religious and as our children grow, we see how important it is for them and us to be educated in a non-religious environment. 

With this in mind, 10 months out from my daughter starting secondary school, I find myself frantically google mapping the route to non religious English and Irish secondary schools at the appointed time every morning. 54 minutes on the bus to Sandymount Park Educate Together, 1 bus, an advantage. Word on the street that the bus is always full, a disadvantage. Sandymount Park Educate Together is our 'local' muiltidenomational school. It's the only muiltidenomational school that we are in the catchment for and serves Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8. Harold's Cross Educate Together (2 busses, 43 mins away) is far closer (cycling an option) but only serves Dublin 6 and 6W. This begs the question why Dublin 6 has access to two Educate Togethers while Dublin 8, which is notoriously under provided for, only has one and is as geographically remote as the catchment allows. We have been unlucky with the lottery for this school as we are outside the catchment area and are at the very bottom of this waiting list. Clogher Road Educate Together is our closest multidenominational school kilometer wise but, for us, is harder to get to (2 busses, 50 plus minutes) unless we cycle. We are also outside the catchment area for this school, so face another lottery and another waiting list. We wait on tenter hooks for the other schools to allocate places. 71 minutes to Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh in Rathfarham, a multidenominational Gaelcholáiste on 2 busses. Having walked to primary school in 10 minutes for the last decade, the next chapter is going to be daunting, stressful and tiring. I feel sorry for my kids.

We could look at moving house but with 1 son still happily in primary, we would have to uproot him. We also love our house and our community. We shouldn't have to move to access non denominational education in both Irish and English. We feel trapped. We are trapped -trapped by the Department of Educations modelling system for future school planning. Bias and under provision are woven into the system, because 55% of kids in the area have historically travelled out of the area for school, the system will continue to provide for, and defend, this practice. 

Our voices are falling on deaf ears. We are constantly told to revert to the Department of Education. No one wants to hear that the Department of Education own modelling prepetuates discrimination based on post code. How do we dismantle this system when no one wants to know about it? Even using this flawed system, the departments own statistics indicate the need for a new school in the area, but we are fobbed off. 

As seen by the dramatic drop in traffic in Dublin come June each year, how many secondary school kids are being dropped to school by car every day? By not providing us with multidenominational schools in English and Irish in our area, it seems that we are being forced into our cars. Surely providing a choice of appropriate local schools would contribute dramatically to carbon reductions?  A win win for everyone. A win win for my kids.