Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn. I thank the Deputy for raising it as it provides me with an opportunity to clarify the position on the application for additional accommodation received from Millstreet Convent national school, County Cork. It is a co-educational primary school catering for boys and girls from junior infants to second class and for girls only from third to sixth class. I am aware the school had 218 enrolled pupils in September 2011 and that the current enrolment is 244 pupils, as the Deputy outlined. I understand the school expects enrolments to increase further next September 2013.

On 5 October the Department of Education and Skills received an application from the school for the provision of one additional mainstream classroom and two learning support rooms to meet its current needs. In addition, the Department received a further application from the school on 15 October for major capital funding to provide additional mainstream classrooms to cater for the school's projected longer term enrolments.

In this regard, the Department of Education and Skills will examine the demographics of the area concerned. The analysis will take into account results from census 2011, child benefit data for the area and an examination of current school enrolments with a view to establishing future accommodation requirements for the area. The school's applications will be assessed in the context of the Department's analysis of need in the area and a decision on the applications will be conveyed to the school authority subsequently.

The Deputy will be aware that the five year programme which the Minister, Deputy Quinn, announced on 12 March 2012 will provide more than 100,000 permanent school places, of which 80,000 will be new school places. The remainder will be the replacement of temporary or unsatisfactory accommodation. Where an immediate enrolment need in an area has been identified, such as the appointment of an additional teacher, and where a school's existing accommodation cannot provide for this growth, the Department considers applications by schools for capital funding for additional classrooms, mainly on a devolved basis. The delivery of new schools, together with extension projects to meet future demand, will be the main focus of the Department's budget for the coming years.

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