Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At this stage, the Department is considering whether to establish a steering group and it is assessing what would be the nature, role and composition of such a group if it was put in place, and whether the internal resources of the Department could contribute to achieving some of the new data that are necessary to develop a model. The Teaching Council when it examined this admitted that it was a highly complex area. Despite its working group having worked on this for quite a considerable period, it was not able to develop a model that it considered to be robust. A good deal of work would have to be done to achieve this. The Department is quite rightly examining if it can we do this within existing resources and, if not, obviously it would be a matter that would have to be considered in the budgetary context. We have taken some short-term measures to deal with that. We will examine other potential short-term measures such as conversion courses and so on.

In terms of the projection for next year, we have already made provision for the coming September, and with respect to the following September, it is anticipated there will still be demographic growth at primary level but it is coming to an end. The main area of growth in enrolments after that will be at second level, as the bulge moves through the population pyramid.

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