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

I take the Deputy's point. Obviously, we do not build schools and wait for the population to arrive. We cannot afford to do that. Deputy Durkan asked earlier if we are able to meet the pressures of an expanding population. What we have is a just-in-time policy. This policy has been around for years. That does not mean that policy does not closely monitor demographic trends. Issues such as births and local authority information are used to identify where we need to anticipate provision. The system is working. As the Deputy said, there are already new schools in the area and we are planning to provide further schools. I will ask my Department to look specifically at how it is anticipating provision and the timing of investment in this area. We do not have the luxury of a build and they will come policy. We have to take account of birth rates, recognising that in three or four years times those children will be hitting the primary school system and that is when we need to have the places available.

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