Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for choosing this item for debate. It is very important to families living in Limerick city. Limerick city is unique in that it has a central application system for entry to post-primary schools. It does not apply in other parts of the country. One of the nine schools that is to be announced in the near future is in the south western side of Limerick and is due to open in 2017. Therefore, it needs to be on the list of schools to which parents can apply for their children to attend from September 2017. The Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, will know I have been raising the issue by way of parliamentary questions, and I have a written answer to a question from 5 October which causes me concern.

I am a former Minister for Education of Skills and the timetable, as I understood it when I left office, was that the patronage of the new schools was to be announced in the second week of September. The Department was well aware of the urgency of the issue, particularly regarding the Limerick school, given that the central application system does not apply in other parts of the country. This is the third week of October and we still do not have an announcement of the patronage of the schools. The written answer I received was as follows:

Applications received are currently being assessed by my Department... The final assessment reports will be forwarded for the consideration of the new schools establishment group, NSEG, which will submit a report with recommendations to me for consideration and final decision.

I am concerned about this given that I would have thought that at this stage the recommendations would have gone from the NSEG to the Minister for a decision. Schools in Limerick are holding their open days. Parents are attending these open days and will very soon have to fill in a school application form in which they will rank their preferences from one to nine, usually. This is a very important decision for parents. On the south side of the city, there is one large school which is always oversubscribed. Therefore, parents will have to decide whether they will put the school down as their first choice, knowing they may not get it. If they do not get this school, they may end up with the choice at the very bottom of their list, given that most of the schools they may have put down as their second or subsequent choices will already be filled by parents who have made those schools their first choice.

People in the House who do not live in Limerick do not deal with the system. It is a very specific system that applies in Limerick, and this is why it is so urgent we know the patronage of the school very quickly. If the Minister is not ready to announce the patronage of all nine schools, I urge him to at least announce this one, given that it is the most urgent. The other school that will open in Limerick is to be on the eastern side of the city. Given that it will not open until 2018, there is no particular urgency about it, although parents would like to know who the patron will be, as do parents in the other seven parts of the country where new schools are to be opened in 2017 or 2018. Obviously, the schools are needed, and would not be coming on stream if the demographic pressures did not exist in those parts of the country. From my knowledge of Limerick, I know there is real stress on parents who are worried their children will not get a place anywhere near where they live. In this part of Limerick, parents are sending their children out into the country on buses or across to the other side of the city, given that the one school in the area is so oversubscribed. The same is true of the other side of the city, which is due to get a new school in 2018. I urge the Minister to make a decision on the patronage of the school now.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the question, which gives me the opportunity to set out the process by which it is decided who will operate a new school. Since 2011, new schools are established only in areas of demographic growth. My Department uses a geographical information system to identify the areas under increased demographic pressure nationwide. The system uses a range of data sources in carrying out nationwide demographic exercises to determine whether additional school accommodation is needed at primary and post-primary levels. As the Deputy will recall, the outcome of such demographic analyses was the November 2015 announcement that four new primary school and nine new post-primary schools would open in 2017 and 2018 to cater for increased demographic needs.

When it is decided that a new school is required to meet demographic needs in an area, the Department runs a separate patronage process to decide who will operate the school. It is open to all patrons and prospective patrons to apply for patronage of a school under this process. The criteria used in relation to patronage of a new school place a particular emphasis on parental demand for plurality and diversity of patronage. Parental preferences for each patron, together with the extent of diversity available in the area, are key to decisions in relation to the outcome of the process.

In April 2016, applications were invited for the patronage of the nine new post-primary schools to be established in 2017 and 2018, including the new post-primary school to serve the Limerick city and environs in the south-west area. The closing date for receipt of applications for this process was 8 June 2016. Patrons submitted with their application a parental preference template in which parents had been requested to declare their preference for their child to be educated through that patron's school model and also their preference with regard to education through the medium of English or Irish. The assessment process is at a very advanced stage in the Department. As the Deputy will appreciate, the process is detailed and rigorous, and numerous applications have been received in respect of each of the nine proposed new schools. The new schools establishment group is an external independent advisory group set up to oversee the process. The new schools establishment group is meeting next week and a report with its recommendations should be submitted to the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, shortly thereafter for his consideration and final decision, and I will also receive it. He will then announce who is the successful patron of each school.

In the context of the common applications system which operates in Limerick, the Department has been liaising with the Limerick Education Centre in this matter and understands that post-primary school opening days and nights are ongoing. The assessment reports and recommendations of the NSEG will be available on the Department’s website following the announcement. I will look into the particular school and if the Deputy would like to meet me, it would be no bother. I would be delighted to sit down with her and see if we can push it forward as soon as possible. I understand the necessity of it.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply and for his offer at the end of his contribution. At least there is some progress and some definite information in that the NSEG is meeting next week. I assume it will make decisions at the meeting and immediately send its recommendations to the Minister, and that the Minister, as is the norm, will go along with the recommendations. I hope we will have news by the end of next week. If, by any chance, the NSEG is not in a position to make a decision on all the nine schools, I urge that it make a decision on the school in question, given that it is the most urgent one. I ask the Minister of State to convey this to the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, and the Department.

The Minister of State can imagine what it is like for parents. Every year, when they have to fill in these forms, public representatives in the area have very stressed parents coming into our offices. These parents say they do not know what to do, given that if they put down a certain school as their first choice they may not get it and their children may have to travel long distances to school.

Given that a new school is coming on stream, pressure will be eased in the part of the city that has been under the most pressure. Knowing that the school is coming on stream is a help in itself, but parents also need to know its patronage before it can be placed on their lists. We do not know what it will be, but some parents have certain preferences and its patronage will colour their decisions of whether to put the school first on their lists.

An urgent decision is needed. I welcome the Minister of State's positive response. I hope that he will convey the situation's urgency to his colleagues in the Department and to the Minister, Deputy Bruton.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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The Deputy has my word on that. The Minister or I will revert to her immediately once the decision is made. I will do my utmost to have an answer for her about the school. We will revert to her within a week. Is that fair enough?

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State.