Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I understand exactly what the Deputy means because even though I am not a Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, I have taken a real interest in this issue because of a similar situation arising in Ennis. I apologise on behalf of the Minister, Deputy McHugh, who is away on official Government business.

To plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a geographic information system, GIS, with data from a range of sources, to identify where the pressure for school places will arise in various parts of the country. With this information, the Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises to determine where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and post-primary level. Where data indicate that additional provision is required, the delivery of such provision is dependent on the circumstances of each case and as such may be provided through one or a combination of the following, namely, using existing unused capacity within a school or schools, extending the capacity of a school or schools or providing a new school or schools. Using school planning area boundaries within the Department’s GIS allows data within those boundaries, including data for enrolments in schools, child benefit and other relevant data, to be added to the mapping information, grouped and analysed. In most cases, school planning areas were based on traditional school catchment areas, where all primary schools were assigned to a post-primary feeder area, typically a population centre or town, containing one or more post-primary schools.

The school planning areas are used in the demographic exercise as a basis for the assessment of areas of growth and to inform recommendations on the establishment of any new schools required in the school planning area. The question of enrolment in individual schools is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of those schools. It is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act 1998 and the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018. The Department’s main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can together cater for all pupils seeking places. Parents have the right to choose which school to apply to and where the school has places available, the pupil should be admitted. In schools where there are more applicants than places available, however, a selection process may be necessary. The process and the enrolment policy on which it is based must be non-discriminatory and applied fairly to all applicants.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, which was signed into law by the President on 18 July 2018, is important legislation that will introduce a more parent-friendly, equitable and consistent approach to how school admissions policy operates for the almost 4,000 primary and post-primary schools and a fair and balanced school admission process for all pupils. The Deputy will further be aware there are three post-primary schools in mid-Kerry, namely, the Presentation secondary school, Milltown, The Intermediate School, Killorglin and Killorglin community college. The Department has no outstanding applications for capital funding for additional accommodation from the post-primary schools in mid-Kerry, which indicates that the schools are able to cater for their current pupil cohort. I will provide more detail in my supplementary reply.

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