James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is familiar with the rapid growth of the commuter belt in north Kildare in particular. We have discussed schools in Naas, Maynooth and elsewhere where demand has greatly outstripped capacity. This situation is repeating itself in Scoil Dara, which is a secondary school in Kilcock in my constituency. It is under severe pressure because enrolment numbers cannot cope with the demand and the number of children presenting. The official number allocated to the school is 875 but at present 923 pupils are enrolled because the principal and management are doing their very best to manage the numbers.

In September 2020, there will be only 150 places available for the school year but more than 236 applicants are looking for those 150 places. A very well-attended public meeting was held last Thursday evening. I attended, as did Councillor Paul Ward from Kilcock and many concerned parents who are at their wits' end trying to understand how the children can be accommodated in the school next year. Not only is Kilcock a vibrant, busy and well-populated town with more and more houses being built every week, there is also a very large rural catchment area. Approximately 12 primary schools feed into Scoil Dara. There are 12 rural and urban primary schools competing with each other for the 150 places available in the school.

A project is under way, and I hope the Minister will tell us more about it, to extend the school. An extension is in the works. My understanding is that it is some time away. The first solution must be to fast-track the extension because 12 primary schools into 150 places do not go. It is not fair to tell any of the schools their pupils cannot attend Scoil Dara. What is important is that we increase the 150 places to 250 places or whatever the number needs to be. The extension in the works needs to be fast tracked. The Department needs to work with all of the stakeholders to get the extension open as soon as possible.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise the issue of the need for a forensic assessment of the educational needs of Scoil Dara in Kilcock, County Kildare and its implications for other schools in north Kildare affected by a dramatically expanding population, thereby highlighting the demand for preschool, primary, post-primary and special needs requirements in the general area. This is necessary and I ask the Minister to have a very careful look at an assessment that has not been done before in an area that is now experiencing an unprecedented population increase. Parents are concerned that siblings of children already in the school may not be able to join them. The indications so far are that the school will not be capable of meeting demand in the area, as has been set out by my colleague, and I also attended the public meeting to which he referred.

There is a danger this could become a rolling issue that gains momentum as time goes by and that public confidence in the ability of the system to deal with the expanding population and school enrolment requirements might create an unnecessary problem. There is a suggestion that in a year's time or more, the Gaelcholáiste in Maynooth and the proposed school in Enfield, the patronage of which has not yet been agreed, will relieve the pressure but, unfortunately, that will be too late. There is an urgent need to look now at the entire Kildare North constituency with a view to averting the type of problem emerging in Kilcock and likely to emerge elsewhere.

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity to outline the Department's position regarding secondary school places in Kildare North. I happened to speak to a principal of a primary school in Kilcock yesterday on another matter. There is a Donegal connection there. She clearly outlined the future pressures in the area, and it was good to hear that analysis.

Deputy Durkan is seeking a forensic assessment. We have a diligent team working in every school planning area and much of the work has already been looked at. In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas - in north Kildare, there are six such areas, including Kilcock - and uses a geographical information system, which utilises data from a range of sources, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise. With this information, my Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises to determine where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and post-primary levels. Where data indicate that additional provision is required, its delivery is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may be provided through one, or a combination of, the following: utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools; extending the capacity of a school or schools; and provision of a new school or schools.

The question of enrolment in individual schools is the responsibility of their managerial authorities. It is their responsibility to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act 1998 and the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018.

As the Deputies will be aware, the Government announced plans in April 2018 for the establishment of 42 new schools over the next four years. This announcement follows nationwide demographic exercises carried out by my Department into the future need for primary and post-primary schools across the country, including a number of new schools in County Kildare. Deputy Durkan is interested in the Kilcock area, but I wish to outline recent progress in the broader county. A new eight-classroom primary school to serve the Leixlip school planning area is to be established in 2019. A new eight-classroom primary school to serve the Maynooth school planning area is to be established in 2019. A new eight-classroom primary school to serve the Naas school planning area is to be established in 2021. A new 500-pupil post-primary school in Enfield is to be established in 2020 and will serve the Kilcock school planning area. It is expected to open in 2020 in interim accommodation and will relieve some of the pressure for places in the existing post-primary school in Kilcock. That is not a solution for the matter raised by the Deputy, but I will get to that in a moment. In addition, a new Gaelcholáiste under the patronage of the Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board, ETB, is due to be established in Maynooth in 2020.

My Department has other major projects ongoing at post-primary schools in north Kildare, including a new 1,000-pupil school for Celbridge community school. This school is currently in interim accommodation pending a new permanent school. The project is at site purchase phase. A new 1,000-pupil school for Maynooth community college is expected to be completed for the 2020-2021 school year. A new replacement school for Maynooth post-primary school is also expected to be completed for the 2020-21 school year. The project to expand St. Farnan's post-primary school in Prosperous to cater for 1,000 pupils was recently devolved to the Kildare and Wicklow ETB and a design team was recently appointed.

To address the issue of a school raised by one of the Deputies, my Department has approved an additional school accommodation project for Scoil Dara in Kilcock. This will deliver five new mainstream classrooms to allow the school to expand to 1,000 pupils. This project also includes the provision of additional specialist rooms. My Department is assessing an application from Clane community school for new specialist rooms and the replacement of existing temporary accommodation.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for those details. My reaction to them is bittersweet, particularly as I was already familiar with many of the projects involved. I welcome that a number of projects are commencing, but parents become enraged when they see statistics of this kind. For example, a new eight-classroom primary school for Naas will be established in 2021. Building the school that was promised in 2014 would have been a start. The diggers are literally going to the college today to prepare the foundations. Sites have to be acquired, planning permission has to be obtained and the tendering and multi-stage design processes have to be gone through, so we could be talking ten years for some of these schools. Parents like those at Scoil Dara are wondering where their children will go to school next September. When this project was announced a few months ago, the reaction was not particularly positive. It would be great if it came true, but prior experience has shown us that, since such projects take so long to deliver, many children will be out of the school system by the time it does.

The Minister mentioned that the Enfield school was due to open in 2020. That it is at such an advanced stage is welcome. If the patronage could be announced between now and Christmas, it would help with appointing a principal, which would then help with some of Scoil Dara's surplus children moving to the Enfield school. That could be done immediately.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy to conclude.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Given that we will not have additional capacity ready in time, perhaps the school could be provided with prefabs in the short term to alleviate some of the distress being felt.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Lawless is eating into Deputy Durkan's time.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. I do not want to upset anyone, but I have a little experience with what happens in communities when children do not gain access to the school of their choice and may have to move to a different school than their siblings. It is the perfect storm and the one thing I would ask the Minister to try to avoid. In particular, will he send an emissary immediately to each of the schools affected with a view to determining what local management thinks about the situation and what its fears are and examining what is likely to emerge over the next 12 months? The population is increasing at a more rapid rate than we expected thanks to the extra houses in the area. The town of Kilcock and the other towns concerned are located adjacent to a national rail route, which creates the kind of pressure we are discussing. Will the Minister ensure that contact is made with all of the schools involved, in particular Scoil Dara, as a matter of urgency?

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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I again thank the Deputies for raising this matter, since it gives me an opportunity to talk to my officials about long-term planning in particular areas. Without going over what has been said about additional accommodation for Scoil Dara, I wish to tell the Deputies and parents who are concerned about what will happen next September that there are solutions that we can, and will, put in place. If that means providing additional temporary accommodation at Scoil Dara long before next September, we are prepared to do that. The Deputies might use their communications and networking with the school authority to encourage it to submit an application to the Department for temporary accommodation in order to get us over the vacuum of uncertainty. That vacuum drives parents nuts because they do not know the score as to when something will happen. We need a temporary solution for next September. Let us get that sorted.

There was a suggestion about Enfield's patronage. We will keep the process moving.

The preliminary stage for acquiring additional accommodation at Scoil Dara has been devolved to the school. I am happy to provide assistance to the school, but let us keep this moving. Parents and the wider community attended the public meeting. Public meetings can be heated and become forums for expressing frustration, but whatever needs to be done to ensure that students are sitting at desks next September will be done.