Ms Fidelma Lyons:

I will touch on how we do things from a national perspective first and will then hone in on south Dublin thereafter. We are establishing schools in areas of demographic growth because we need to make sure the capital resources go into making sure every child has access to a school place. In the context of new school provision, there has been announcements on the establishment of 47 new schools from 2019, and in the patronage process that determines the patronage and the language of those new schools, whether they be English- or Irish-medium, affords particular consideration to Gaelscoileanna, Gaelcholáistí and aonaid lán-Ghaeilge as well. As the Minister has mentioned, there is a lower thresholding while looking at Irish-medium provision that it be 400 rather than up at the 600- or 1,000-pupil level. Also a potential outcome from the patronage process for new schools is the establishment of aonaid lán-Ghaeilge. Any patron can also come to the Department and make an application for any English-medium post-primary school to establish an aonad in that school and that is something the Department would look at.

The patronage process which is run for new schools takes into account parental preferences for patronage but also for language between English and Irish. It also takes into account existing provision in the area, particularly regarding diversity and what is already available there in terms of the Irish language. It is out of that process that Irish-medium schools are established. As the Minister mentioned, regarding Irish-medium schools nationwide, we know that over 70% of the Gaelcholáistí are undersubscribed. Therefore, they could have taken in additional children. We know that 88% of Irish-medium schools are not oversubscribed. We know from looking at our figures by a per-county basis, we can see and look at each undersubscribed Gaelcholáiste around the country and at the Gaelscoileanna that are within 5 km of that Gaelcholáiste. We can look at the sixth-class output from those Gaelscoileanna into the Gaelcholáiste to see how many of those sixth-class pupils who had this Irish-medium post-primary school within 5 km actually went there. It is surprising that in some cases the number is quite low. We have those figures as well. We know that even though there might be availability of an Irish-medium post-primary option, sometimes parents do not avail of that for their children at post-primary level for whatever reason. That is the position in terms of the national picture.

In terms of moving into Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8, when we are looking at Irish-medium provision there, we look at the school planning areas there. We look at provision based on school planning areas and the number of school planning areas within south Dublin, we look overall at the Gaelscoileanna, and then we look at the availability of the Gaelcholáistí within that particular area.

As the Minister mentioned, there are three Gaelcholáistí, which I am sure the Deputy will be aware of - Coláiste Eoin, Coláiste Íosagáin and Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh - in the area. We have been keeping the output from the Gaelscoileanna and the supply from the Gaelcholáistí under review. Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh has reported in its returns, which every school is required to do each year, that it could have taken in additional first year students. While Coláiste Eoin and Coláiste Íosagáin are at capacity, we know that Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh could have done that. There is overall supply notwithstanding what the Deputy said in terms of location.

We are looking at the output, including the future output, from the Gaelscoileanna in the area and the Irish-medium stream in Synge Street, which will have sixth class output in time. We are looking at keeping it under review, particularly as a number of additional Gaelscoileanna have been established in recent years and they do not yet have an output of sixth class students. We are looking at that as well. Options are available in terms of how we might provide for that additional need. The numbers may not be at the level required for the establishment of an additional Gaelcholáiste. We have been looking at what might be possible for Coláiste Eoin and Coláiste Íosagáin, as the Minister said in terms of exploring possibilities there, doing a technical assessment and arranging for that.

There are also other options for English-medium post-primary schools in the area with the potential to establish aonaid in them. We know this would be possible in one school, in particular, near Harold's Cross. That would be possible there if it is needed. We have been looking at how we might cater for that level of demand when it materialises. Looking at south Dublin at the minute, overall there are sufficient places and there were places that were not taken up by parents for their children this year.