Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for Education. The Minister asked me to thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides the Department with an opportunity to clarify the position regarding the development of Fermoy Educate Together National School and, more specifically, the school's request for further accommodation. The Deputy may be aware that Fermoy Educate Together National School is an ordinary mixed school in the town of Fermoy, County Cork. The school had an enrolment in September 2022 of 52 pupils and in September 2023 of 85 pupils. The school is located in the Fermoy school planning area. There are currently 19 primary schools and three post-primary schools in this school planning area.

Fermoy was one of the areas surveyed in 2012 and 2013 under the patronage divestment process where there was sufficient parental demand to support changes in school patronage. The areas surveyed were areas in which demographics were not growing and, therefore, it was unlikely that a new multi-denominational school would be established, for demographic reasons. The policy on patronage divestment is to use existing educational infrastructure to facilitate the provision of diversity in areas where there is no demographic imperative to establish new schools. The reason is, of necessity, the focus of the schools capital programme is the provision of additional school places in primary and post-primary levels to ensure that every pupil can access a school place. As part of the process of identifying a suitable accommodation solution which would facilitate the establishment of the school, the Department liaised with Cork Education and Training Board. In order to facilitate the establishment of the new school, the ETB agreed to the colocation of the Educate Together school at the former technical school site in Fermoy, together with some of the ETB's further education and training services.

Prior to the establishment of the new school in 2018 under the patronage divestment process, the Department of Education and Educate Together, as school patron, agreed that, given the accommodation available at the property and the need for the ETB to accommodate some further education and training services at the property, the school would be established as a four-classroom school and would maintain this configuration in the accommodation in the former technical school unless an existing school building was freed up for use in the area. As part of this engagement, the Department of Education outlined to the school patron the importance of enrolments being managed within available accommodation in a sustainable way and that this be communicated to the school's board of management so that parents could be fully informed, in order to manage expectations.

The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has a statutory function to plan and co-ordinate the provision of educational support services to children with special educational needs in consultation with the relevant education partners in the Health Service Executive. This includes the establishment of special classes and special school placements in various geographical areas where there is an identified need. When the NCSE sanctions a special class in a primary or post-primary school, school authorities can apply to the Department of Education for capital funding to reconfigure existing spaces within the school building to accommodate the class or to construct additional accommodation under the Department of Education's additional school accommodation scheme, or both. The Department of Education works closely with the NCSE on forward planning for increased special education provision in the form of additional special classes and special school places. This close management with the NCSE involves strategic planning to ensure existing accommodation capacity is utilised and maximised in the context of providing new special classes. It also facilitates the identification of required accommodation solutions where additional capacity is required.

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