Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

It is the policy of my Department to provide a permanent accommodation solution in so far as possible to meet the demands presenting for schools in areas of major population growth. However, the time span involved in architectural design and obtaining planning permission processes effectively means that in all instances it may not be possible to provide a permanent accommodation solution as soon as it is required. In these cases temporary accommodation is provided as an interim measure.

I am conscious of the pressures being placed on education providers in areas of major population growth. To this end my Department is prioritising the provision of new and enhanced educational facilities in these areas. The prioritisation criteria, which were recently revised in consultation with the education partners allocates a top priority band 1 rating to school building projects in such areas.

My Department is included among the prescribed authorities to which local authorities are statutorily obliged to send draft development plans or proposed variations to development plans for comment. As a matter of course, meetings are arranged with local authorities to establish the location, scale and pace of any major proposed developments and their possible implications for school provision so as to ensure as far as possible the timely delivery of the required education infrastructure.

In recent years my Department has worked to strengthen contacts with local authorities to facilitate informed decisions on planning future educational provision. For example, the Dublin school planning committee, chaired by officials of my Department, interacts with the Dublin local authorities. This forum comprises representatives of the local authorities in Dublin, together with representatives of the patron bodies of primary schools and it monitors demographic changes and their likely impact.

The school planning section of my Department also works with some local authorities to explore the possibility of the development of school provision in tandem with the development of community facilities. This enhanced co-operation minimises my Department's land requirements and thus reduces site costs while at the same time providing local communities with new schools with enhanced facilities. Under the provisions of the strategic development zones it is generally the position that sites must be reserved for schools and also that the schools must be developed in line with the housing and other developments.

My Department has recently adopted an area-based approach to school planning where, through a public consultation process involving the education partners, a blueprint for schools' development in an area for a ten year time frame can be set out. The areas covered in the pilot phase of this area-based approach to school planning include north Dublin, south Louth and mid-Meath; the N4-M4 route running from Leixlip to Kilbeggan, including Maynooth, Celbridge, Kilcock, Edenderry and rapidly developing villages and towns on that route. Taken in combination these measures will improve the speed and effectiveness of the response to emerging needs.

See this speech in context