Ms Valerie Kirwan:

I thank the Senator for her questions. I know Ballinasloe. It is not too far away from me; I am from Birr.

On the school planning areas and how many schools are in each planning area at primary level and post-primary level, it varies.

The schools are grouped by small areas. There are 4,000 schools across the country and 314 school planning areas. At a previous meeting of this committee, at which Mr. Hubert Loftus was present on behalf of the Department, questions were asked about getting access to information relating to school planning areas. Work is ongoing at the moment to make that information available.

On the question of how we plan strategically, in regard to enrolments, we take into consideration census numbers, class sizes and projects that are up and coming in the location. We also look at housing developments in the area, which is a really important part of it. At this time, we are working through all the projects coming through the pipeline. We are looking at the gross numbers; not just the gross population number for a town but also, if it is a large town, looking at whether development is happening in, say, the east or the west of the town. We are making sure we are targeting where the school build projects need to be located.