Shortage of places in Davitt College and St Gerald’s College highlighted in Dáil

MAYO TD Alan Dillon has highlighted a lack of secondary school places at two Castlebar secondary schools.

Raising the matter in the Dáil, Deputy Dillon said both Davitt College and St Gerald’s College were under pressure to accommodate growing numbers of students.

St Gerald’s has raised their limit on the the condition that the Department of Education will arrange additional accommodation. The all-boys school admitted approximately 120 new First Year students for the 2024/2025 academic year.

Davitt College has also expanded their limit range for additional accommodation for the 2024/2025 academic year, which saw it admit approximately 170 new students.

Deputy Dillon pointed out the Department’s failure to tackle this issue, which is presently affecting many schools, with principals being burdened with the task of addressing the critical problem of a shortage of secondary school places.

“St Gerald’s College has requested extra modular accommodation, and this needs to be expedited urgently. We cannot repeat the situation that happened in Davitt College last September where students had to be relocated to another campus in the town for classes,” the Fine Gael TD said.  

“We must ensure the education of children in the Castlebar area. We cannot allow a situation where these children are unable to secure secondary school places in their nearest town and are forced to commute to other towns.”

Responding to Deputy Dillon, Minister Simon Coveney said he would ensure that the Minister for Education, Norma Foley, got back to him on these issues.

“Every child should be able to get a place in a school at a reasonable distance from their home, whether in Mayo or anywhere else,” said Minister Coveney.

“I know there are pressures in some parts of the country given population growth pressures and so on. We are putting a huge budget into education in terms of capital investment, scaling up school places and so on.”