Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I am slightly concerned about the difference between the information the Deputy has and the information the Department has, because the figures do not lie. Enrolments are either increasing or decreasing year on year. I do not for one minute question the Deputy's bona fides regarding the information he has brought to the Dáil today, so I ask him to liaise directly. I will reflect what he said today to the Minister for education because the facts are the facts in terms of enrolments. If the facts show that there is an increase in the enrolment and it is not that there is a duplication of applications going into a lot of local schools, that should certainly make a strong case for the school to get the building - the bricks and mortar - it deserves in order to be able to accommodate students and make sure they have school places. We do not want to see parents under the stress of having uncertainty about whether their children will have places in schools.

The Department is aware of enrolment pressures and demand for additional school places in some areas. It is important to note that enrolment pressures can be driven, as I said, by duplication of applications, applications from outside a catchment area and school-of-choice factors. Notwithstanding that, in some areas the demographic pressures and other factors are driving a requirement for additional school places. Major new residential developments - perhaps that is happening in the Deputy's area - have the potential to alter the demand for school places at local level. That can happen quite quickly. In this regard, as part of the demographic demand analysis, the Department monitors planning and construction activity in the residential sector in the local area. This involves the analysis of data sources from local authorities and the Central Statistics Office, alongside engagement with local authorities and the construction sector. In this way, up-to-date information on significant new residential developments is obtained and factored into the analysis that is conducted by the Department. It is necessary to ensure that school infrastructure planning is keeping pace with those changes at local level in circumstances where it is a consistently evolving picture in the context of planned new residential developments.

I appreciate what the Deputy said and will reflect it to the Minster for education.

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