Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy that the provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post-primary levels, including those with special educational needs, is an absolute priority for the Department and, indeed, the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton.

As the Deputy will be aware, my Department's demographic projections utilise various data sources, such as current enrolment figures, child benefit records, census information, residential development data and migration patterns, among others. Projections are developed across 314 school planning areas and at a more granular settlement level in urban areas with higher residential construction activity and population growth.

My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in that area. It is important to note that enrolment pressure may not result from a lack of accommodation but may be driven by other factors. These can include the duplication of applications, whereby pupils will have applied for a place to a number of schools in their area, and school of choice, whereby pupils might not get a place in their preferred school although there will be places in others in the area. Some areas have single-sex schools, and while places may be available therein they may not be available to all pupils. There is also the question of the external draw, whereby pupils come from outside the local area. In this context, oversubscription of a school or schools is not necessarily representative of a deficit of school places.

Approximately 75,000 first-year students enrol in post-primary schools across the country every year, and in the vast majority of cases there is sufficient provision across the schools in their areas to meet the local school place needs. While total post-primary enrolments are expected to remain at a high level in the coming years, the demographic profile is such that first-year numbers have begun to decline in over two-thirds of school planning areas. Such a decline is expected across the majority of school planning areas in the coming years.

Since 2020, the Department has invested in the region of €4.5 billion in schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 800 school building projects and with construction currently under way on approximately 300 other projects, including 31 new school buildings. The 300 projects in construction involve a total State investment of over €1.2 billion.

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