Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Bruton, who is at a rescheduled Cabinet meeting. He would have liked to have been here and had anticipated that he would but unfortunately he is not because he is at the Cabinet meeting.

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. It gives me the opportunity to set out the process by which the Department of Education and Skills identifies and provides for school places in step with demographic trends, including in the Citywest and Saggart areas of County Dublin. As the Deputies may be aware, in order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas. The Department uses a geographical information system, GIS, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise. The GIS uses data from a range of sources, including the Central Statistics Office, Ordnance Survey Ireland, the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Education and Skills' own databases. The Department has also engaged with all local authorities and other planning bodies on any additional significant residential development which may give rise to additional demographic pressure. With this information, the Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises at primary and post-primary levels to determine where additional school accommodation is needed. Where demographic data indicate that additional provision is required, the delivery of such additional provision is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may, depending on the circumstances, be provided through either one, or a combination of, the following: utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools; extending the capacity of a school or schools; and the provision of a new school or schools.

For school planning purposes, the Saggart and Citywest areas are located within the Tallaght and Newcastle-Rathcoole school planning areas. A new 1,000-pupil post-primary school in the Kingswood area of Tallaght was established in September 2016 to serve the needs of students in the Tallaght school planning area, which includes Citywest. A building project for this school commenced construction in August 2017. In addition, a new 1,000-pupil post-primary school is due to be established in September 2018 in Firhouse-Oldbawn, which is adjacent to the Tallaght area. When fully developed, this school will provide 1,000 pupil places. Nationwide demographic exercises involving all school planning areas - including the Tallaght and Newcastle-Rathcoole school planning areas - that will determine where new school provision will be needed from 2019 are ongoing. It is anticipated that decisions based on these exercises will be announced in the coming weeks.

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. I understand the pressures that parents and children are under. I acknowledge the letters that were sent by children to the Minister, which I obviously have not seen. Areas of growth, such as those in the Dublin area, are acutely under pressure. Reference was made to commuting for 45 minutes. Forty-five minutes would bring one a long way from my area of rural Connemara to Clifden, which is miles away. Clearly, close proximity in city traffic is a different story entirely.

I will bring the Deputies' concerns to the Minister. He would have liked to have been here. I thank Deputies Curran, Brophy, Lahart, Ó Broin and Paul Murphy for raising this very important matter on behalf of the parents and children. I understand the pressures that parents are under owing to the lack of school places. In places of high growth and for popular schools, parents are registering their children at a very young age. I am acutely aware of concerns over the lack of availability of school places in the locality in question. All Deputies in the House and everybody involved in public service would be aware of that. I will certainly relay the Deputies' concerns to the Minister.

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