John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am just making that clear. I will seek responses to the questions asked by the Deputy and get them back to him.

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter as it affords me the opportunity to outline to the House the current issues surrounding recognition and patronage in general and the position regarding the request from Educate Together to become a patron of second level schools in particular.

The Department is currently examining the application from Educate Together in the context of second level education, the Education Act and the Department of Education and Science regulations on patronage at second level. Section 6 of the Education Act 1998 sets out the objectives of the Act, one of which is "to promote the right of parents to send their children to a school of the parents' choice having regard to the rights of patrons and the effective and efficient use of resources". The Act also sets out the functions of the Minister. Section 7(4) states, "In carrying out his or her functions, the Minister shall have regard to the resources available and the need to reflect the diversity of educational services provided in the State."

In recent times, the rapid pace of social and demographic change in Ireland is reflected in a radically altered and more diverse society from which our school communities are drawn. Added to this, it is expected that enrolments at second level will increase significantly from the 2007 enrolment of 335,126 pupils. As the Deputy will be aware, a new model of primary school patronage is currently being piloted in response to changing societal circumstances. The pilot primary community schools, which opened in September 2008 and which come under the patronage of County Dublin VEC, aim to provide education for diverse denominational groups, reflecting parental choice and based on an ethos of inclusion and respect for children of all faiths and none. This new primary model provides a valuable new option in ensuring that our school system is responsive to parental choice.

In ensuring that the range of patronage models, new and existing, collectively achieve this, it is important to build on ongoing dialogue with the education partners in encouraging a wider public discussion of the issues involved. In this context, the Minister recently announced a review of the procedures for the establishment of new primary schools under the Commission on School Accommodation. He has established a technical working group under the commission to undertake a full review of the criteria and procedures for the recognition of new primary schools. This working group has commenced its work and will report to the steering group under the Commission on School Accommodation. It is expected that the review of procedures for recognising primary schools will be completed and that revised arrangements will be in place within a two-year timeframe.

In the interim, it is not proposed to recognise any new schools, except in areas where the increases in pupil numbers cannot be catered for in existing schools and require the provision of new schools. This means that new schools will not be established for reasons not related to demographic growth in areas where there is already sufficient school accommodation or where increases can be catered for by extending existing school accommodation. It is proposed that locations where new schools are required for the coming years will be identified by the Department of Education and Science and the details will be circulated to all existing patron bodies.

In light of our increasing student population and moves towards diversity in education it is also timely to examine the broad issues of patronage at second level. The Department is, therefore, considering a number of issues relating to the recognition process for second level schools. The application from Educate Together to become a patron body at second level will be considered within this context.

I will ask the Department to correspond directly with Deputy Quinn in respect of the specific matters he raised.

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