Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Reilly very much for the question about additional school places in Fingal West. I thank her for raising this matter, which gives me the opportunity to set out to the Dáil the position with regard to a shortfall of school places at both primary and secondary levels in Fingal West.

It is an absolute priority to ensure that every child in the State has access to a school place. The Department of Education is continually planning for and investing in existing and new schools to ensure this is the case. The annual enrolment process for new junior infants at primary level and new first years at post-primary level is a very large-scale operation that is transacted at close to 4,000 schools throughout the country, involving some 140,000 pupils.

Enrolment pressures can be driven by duplications of applications, applications from outside an area, and school-of-choice factors. Since 2020, the Department of Education has invested more than €5.7 billion in schools throughout the country, involving the completion of more than 1,150 school building projects and with construction under way at approximately 300 other projects, which includes 40 new school buildings. The 300 projects currently at construction involve a total State investment of more than €1.3 billion. The Department has invested more than €1.3 billion in school infrastructure in County Dublin over the period since 2020.

With regard to Fingal West, there are a number of active projects at primary and post-primary levels in progress, which will increase capacity. These projects include a new school building project for St. Molaga's National School in Balbriggan, which will provide 19 mainstream classrooms and two special education classrooms. The project is currently at stage 3 - procurement. In addition, there is a new school building project under way for Rush National School, which will provide 32 mainstream classrooms and two special education classrooms. The project is at construction stage. A project was also recently completed for Rush and Lusk Educate Together National School, providing a brand new, state-of-the-art 16-classroom school and two special education classrooms.

At post-primary level, there is a project under way for St. Joseph's Secondary School in Rush, which will provide accommodation for 1,000 pupils plus four special education classrooms.

This project is currently at stage 2b. There is also an extension under way at Balbriggan Community College to provide for a long-term projected enrolment of 1,000 pupils, with two special education classrooms. A project was also completed recently for Lusk Community College. This provided accommodation for a long-term projected enrolment of 1,000 and two special education classrooms.

Nationally, Ireland has been experiencing growth in overall post-primary enrolment, and this is projected to continue in many parts of the country for the coming years before declining. However, first-year enrolments are expected to be found to have peaked nationally in the 2023-24 school year. They will begin to decline from this year. At primary level, there is generally good capacity across the country, although there are some areas under continuing demographic pressure. While there can be enrolment pressures in some areas experiencing significant demographic growth, at both primary and post-primary level there is school accommodation capacity either in or near all areas of the country. To assist with the enrolment of children without a school place, the Department shares information on available capacity with the education welfare service, which is part of Tusla's educational support service and which operates under the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, legislation that emphasises the promotion of school attendance, participation and retention.

My Department has put in place a number of measures to support post-primary schools in managing and effectively co-ordinating their admissions processes. These measures include improvements to the post-primary online database student registration system to help identify students who have accepted multiple places, writing to parents of sixth class children with advice on the admissions process, including Fingal West, and strengthening the data-sharing arrangements with schools in areas of enrolment pressure.

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