Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. It gives me the opportunity to remind the House on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth of the significant challenges facing us in meeting increasing demand for pupil places throughout the country. As the Deputy raised the issue of Portmarnock in the coming years, I am grateful for the opportunity to clarify the position on the provision of primary school places in Portmarnock, Co. Dublin.

I assure him that the provision of both mainstream and special education school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post-primary level is an absolute priority for the Department of Education and Youth. The annual enrolment process for new junior infants at primary and new first years at post-primary is a very large-scale operation that is transacted at close to 4,000 schools across the country, involving 140,000 pupils. The Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a geographical information system to anticipate school place demand to plan for school place needs. Information from a range of sources, including child benefit data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity is used for this purpose. Additionally, Project Ireland 2040 population and housing targets inform the Department's projections of school place requirements.

Portmarnock school planning area, SPA, has five primary schools. The SPA enrolments are projected to peak in 2027 with enrolments decreasing thereafter. While the Department is aware of enrolment pressures and demand for additional school places in some areas, including Portmarnock, it is important to note that enrolment pressures can be driven by duplication of applications, applications from outside an area, and school of choice factors. Notwithstanding the above, in some areas, demographic pressures and other factors are driving a requirement for additional school places. I have heard the Deputy regarding the matter he has raised here in terms of a deficit of places. Since 2020, the Department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the national development plan, involving the completion of over 1,375 school building projects. Government support for this investment, including by way of supplementary capital funding, has delivered real benefits for school communities. A recent Government decision approved €210 million supplementary capital funding for the Department, which brings the total capital allocation for 2025 for the Department to €1.6 billion.

The Department currently has a school building project for Malahide Portmarnock ETNS, which is at stage 2b or planning stage of the architectural process.

This project is for a new 16 mainstream classroom primary school, with four special educational needs classrooms to accommodate pupils with special educational needs. The Department also has two additional school accommodation projects to provide additional capacity in the area, namely for St. Nicholas of Myra national school, and St. Helen’s senior national school, which are both at stage 1 or initial design.

As part of the national development plan review process, all Departments, including the Department of education, are engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation with respect to NDP allocations for the period from 2026 to 2030. It is expected that there will be clarity on these allocations over the course of the summer period, and this will allow the Department to plan its capital investment programme for the 2026 to 2030 period, in line with prioritised needs and reflecting, as appropriate, wider Government priorities.

Maximising existing capacity in schools to meet needs is very important. The progression of prioritised individual projects to meet the most urgent needs in the four-year window between 2026 and 2030 period, which cannot be met through existing capacity across schools in the local area, will be considered on a rolling basis from autumn onwards, after the NDP allocations are finalised.

The Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. In relation to school admissions, it is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act 1998.

I will bring back the Deputy's remarks on the figures he has raised. If he wants to give them to me I will happily give them to the Minister again. The Department will continue to keep school place requirements in the Portmarnock school planning area, as with all other areas, under review.

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