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

The school was identified in an area where there was not demographic pressure. These specific areas did not face demographic pressure and the idea was to divest an existing school through an amalgamation, with a transfer to a new patron. That was the context in which this project was developed; it was not included in the expanding areas, in which case all new schools are entirely non-denominational. Thirty have gone non-denominational in the past few years. This project was being done in the context of the divesting of an existing school to facilitate a new patron. The current school was established as a four-classroom building. St. Mary's does not have enough accommodation for an eight-classroom building. The refurbishment is being done in the context of a four-classroom building, which would not meet the needs of an eight-classroom school. However, I understand that what has happened is that there is more demand to enrol in the school than would be met by a four-classroom building. The demand for additional places will have to be assessed by the Department.

We will examine the demographics to establish where there is now a demographic pressure that was not there at the time the project was approved. We will also examine the case being made by Educate Together. This is not a case of someone trying to pull the rug from under someone else. The project was developed in a particular context and the weakness of that process is evident. It required closures and amalgamations to trigger it and it has not produced a flow. We are now trying a different approach involving the live transfer of a school in total to a new patron, which does not require divestiture, closure or sale or acquisition of property. That is the process for the longer term patronage diversification that we are trying to pursue but I will consider the issue raised by the Deputy.

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