Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Stanton for raising this important issue on behalf of his constituents. I apologise for the absence of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, who is unavailable this evening. As the Deputy may be aware, for school planning purposes, the Department of Education divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a geographical information system to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including child benefit data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity, is used for this purpose. In addition, Project Ireland 2040 population and housing targets inform the Department's projections of school place requirements. Having considered the projected requirements in each school planning area, the Department then makes an assessment of existing capacity in that particular area and its ability to meet the increased demand. Where data indicate that additional provision is required at primary or post-primary level, the delivery of such additional provision depends on the circumstances of each case and may be provided through one of, or a combination of, utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools, extending the capacity of a school or schools or provision of a new school or schools. The Department's projections of post-primary school place requirements in east Cork show an anticipated continued growth in enrolments in the short to medium term.

In response to meeting the projected future demographic demand in the area, a new post-primary school, Carrigtwohill Community College, was established in 2016. A project to deliver a new, modern 1,000 pupil permanent school building for the school is under way.

The Department issued a letter of intent to the preferred tenderer on 15 February 2022. This allows the preferred bidder to put in place the bond, insurance and confirmations of all legal arrangements required under the contract. Following receipt of all the necessary documentation, the Department will be in a position to issue the letter of acceptance, which will allow the contractor to mobilise on site. It is expected that the letter of acceptance will issue shortly after receipt of all the necessary documents. Once the successful contractor is appointed, the Department's project manager will liaise with the contractor to ensure that the community college is prioritised and delivered as early as possible within the contractor's programme of works for the campus.

In the meantime, additional accommodation has been approved for Carrigtwohill Community College for September 2022, which includes six general classrooms, a home economics room, a special educational needs class, and ancillary accommodation. This accommodation is being delivered by Cork Education and Training board, CETB.

The Department's capital programme also provides for devolved funding for additional classrooms, including accommodation for pupils with special educational needs, if required, for schools where an additional enrolment need has been identified or where an additional teacher has been appointed. An extension at St. Colman's Community College, Midleton, was completed recently, which will cater for up to 1,000 pupils. A number of other large-scale building projects are also in train to cater for similar pupil numbers. This includes expanded capacity at Christian Brothers Secondary School and St. Mary's High School, Midleton. In addition, St. Aloysius College, Carrigtwohill will expand to cater for 1,000 pupils, Pobalscoil na Tríonóide in Youghal to cater for 1,200 pupils, and Coláiste Mhuire and Carrignafoy Community College, both in Cobh, to cater for 600 and over 700 pupils respectively.

Under Project Ireland 2040, the Department continues to make progress to increase the infrastructural capacity in the schools sector to meet demographic and other demands. It is expected that the enrolment pressures in east Cork, and other areas will reduce in the short term as such planned additional capacity comes on stream and as demographic demand moves past its peak.

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