Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter because it gives me the opportunity to remind the House of the significant challenges facing the Department in terms of meeting increasing demand for pupil places throughout the country in the coming years. It also presents me with the opportunity to clarify the position regarding the provision of school places in Monasterevin, County Kildare.

The Deputy will be aware that the country has experienced an unprecedented population increase in recent years. This demographic growth has posed a significant challenge regarding the provision of school places and that challenge is set to continue. The demographic projections show that enrolment at primary level will continue to increase substantially until at least 2019. Primary school enrolments, which stood at 509,652 in July 2011, are expected to increase to 570,000 by 2018, which equates to an increase in enrolments of over 64,000 since July 2011. Post-primary school enrolments, which stood at 317,432 in July 2011, are expected to increase to 385,000 by 2022, which equates to an increase in enrolments of some 68,000 since July 2011. The demand for additional school places in the post-primary sector will continue to increase until at least 2025, when enrolment figures are expected to reach in excess of 400,000.

In the context of school provision in Monasterevin, the Deputy is aware that architectural planning has commenced for two major building projects that are intended to meet current and future demand at both primary and post-primary level. In the case of primary school provision, a new 24-classroom school will be constructed to host the amalgamation of Scoil Eimhinn Naofa and St. Peter's Boys' National School. The current position relating to the proposed building project is that the pre-stage 1 meeting was held with the school and its design team in November 2014 and the Department requested that they address a number of points as part of the stage 1 report. Subsequently, an addendum to the stage 1 report was furnished to the Department by the board of management and design team on 18 August last and the project has now been authorised to progress to stage 2(a), which is the developed sketch design stage. Upon successful completion of stage 2(a) and subject to no issues arising, the project will be authorised to proceed to stage 2(b), the detailed design stage, which includes applications for planning permission, fire safety certification, disability access certification and the preparation of tender documents. While the project was not included in the current five-year construction programme, school building projects, including this project, are being progressed to the final planning stages and are available to be considered in the context of the new six-year construction plan which the Minister intends to announce in the coming weeks.

The position relating to post-primary provision in Monasterevin is that architectural planning is also advancing to provide a replacement school for St. Paul's secondary school. When complete, the school will not only cater for the current pupil cohort but will also provide for additional post-primary school places to meet future needs. Following the pre-stage 1 meeting in February 2015, this project was authorised to progress to stage 2(a), which is the developed sketch design stage. The stage 2(a) meeting was held in the Department last June and the school and its design team were requested to complete and submit the stage 2(a) report to the Department. This report was received in the Department on 25 September and is currently under review. Matters relating to services to and from the site remain under discussion between the design team and the local authority. Upon successful completion of stage 2(a) and subject to no issues arising, this project will then be authorised to proceed to stage 2(b), the detailed design stage, which includes applications for planning permission, fire safety certification, disability access certification and the preparation of tender documents. This project is included on the current five year construction programme announced in 2012 and is listed on the programme to proceed to tender and construction in 2015/16. To be clear, the money for that project is ring-fenced and has been set aside, as the Deputy is probably aware. It is important that the project progresses through all of the stages so that we can spend the money in 2016.

The Deputy will also be aware that significant capital funding will be invested in our education system through the Government's €27 billion capital programme announced on 29 September last. In the next six years, some €3.8 billion in direct funding will be invested in education projects. By comparison, the initial allocation under the previous five year capital programme was €2.2 billion. We are certainly making a lot of progress in terms of allocating resources to various projects. This means that there has been a significant increase in funding to match demand. This level of allocation allows the Department of Education and Skills to deliver some 19,000 additional permanent primary school places required by 2019 and 43,000 additional post primary school places required by 2022.

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