Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

3 o’clock

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague the Minister for Education, who is otherwise engaged. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, which gives me the opportunity to set out the position with regard to school places, including for children and young people with special educational needs, in north Kildare for September 2025 and onwards.

The provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post-primary level, including children and young people with special educational needs, is an absolute priority for the Department of Education. In line with the Department’s demographic projections for post-primary school place requirements, there has been a continued growth in the number of enrolments in many school planning areas in north Kildare. In response, the Department has invested significantly in schools in County Kildare over recent years. Since 2020, more than €310 million has been invested in schools in the county. This investment has focused on the provision of additional capacity to cater for its increasing population and there are further significant projects in our pipeline, including for north Kildare.

At a national level, Ireland has been experiencing growth in the overall number of post-primary enrolments and this is projected to continue in many parts of the country for the coming years before beginning to taper off and decline. First-year enrolments nationally, however, are expected to have peaked in the 2023-24 school year and are beginning to decline. Throughout north Kildare, there are almost 250 more first-year places available for the 2025-26 school year than there are sixth-class children.

Nevertheless, the Department has been putting in place a number of measures to support parents and post-primary schools, including in north Kildare, with a view to helping the admissions process for the 2025-26 year to run as smoothly as possible. First, the Department has written to all parents and guardians of children in sixth class with advice and guidance regarding the admissions process for post-primary for the 2025-26 school year. This letter advised parents to apply to multiple schools in areas where there is high demand and requested parents to take steps to avoid holding multiple places. Second, the Department has improved the central post-primary online database IT system that schools use to register school enrolments. This is an important improvement and is available to assist schools to manage the enrolment process and provide real-time notification to schools to where a new student has accepted a school place in more than one school. This will help identify duplicate enrolments at an early stage.

Furthermore, the successful data-sharing arrangements that were implemented for the 2024-25 admissions process in areas of enrolment pressure will again be put in place again for the 2025-26 process, including for areas in north Kildare. It is expected that, as in previous years, the data sharing will provide confidence that there is sufficient school place availability in the majority of areas. If a shortfall of places is identified in an area, however, the Department will work with schools to put the necessary solutions in place.

I also acknowledge the invaluable work being done by school principals and the wider school authorities in expanding the educational provision for pupils with special educational needs. Over the past five years, almost 1,700 new special classes have been provided. There are now a total of 131 special classes in County Kildare. Eleven new special school places have been opened, including one new special school in Craddockstown, which serves the needs of children with autism and complex needs throughout County Kildare. The Department has also recently issued a circular to all schools, following intensive stakeholder engagement, setting out new measures to support the forward planning of special education provision. This circular highlights a focus on the establishment of additional special classes in all post-primary schools and at medium-to-large primary schools that do not yet have a special class. It also outlines new streamlined arrangements to support the repurposing of existing accommodation to facilitate opening new special classes.

The Department will continue to plan for future school place needs using the most up-to-date information, including on current and planned residential development activity. Additionally, it will continue to liaise with local authorities with a view to identifying any potential long-term school accommodation requirements in school planning areas.

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