Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, the Minister for Education and Skills.

As the Senator is aware, in June of last year the Minister announced that up to 40 new schools are to be established within the next six years to provide sufficient school capacity to meet our increased demographics. These consisted of 20 new primary schools and 20 new post-primary schools. That announcement did not include a proposal to establish a new primary school in the area referred to by the Senator. However, the forward planning section of the Department will continue to monitor enrolments in the Portobello area to ensure there is sufficient school accommodation to meet any projected future demands.

The report of the advisory group to the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector was published in April of this year. The report's findings and recommendations have been considered, and the Minister outlined his action plan in response to the advisory group report this morning.

In regard to divesting, the advisory group recommended that the process of divesting of patronage would commence in 47 identified areas of stable population with likely demand for diversity. The Minister agrees in principle with the approach to divesting outlined in the forum report and intends to commence the process immediately.

On the areas to be surveyed, as the Senator is aware, the 47 areas referred to in the report were identified at the request of the Catholic Church in 2010 and the list was drawn up based on criteria applied to data from the 2006 census.

Since the Minister published the forum report in April, new data has become available from the 2011 census. The Minister has decided to update the list of areas to be surveyed to reflect the new data available from census 2011 and to take account of areas where primary school diversity is already provided or planned. In summary, this means that the number of areas to be surveyed in the initial phase is 44. I am pleased to inform the Senator that among the Dublin areas to be surveyed in this initial phase are Dublin 4, 6 and 8.

The divesting process will involve the gathering of evidence by the forward planning section of the Department of Education and Skills on the scale of divestment required in the identified areas.

Parents will be given full information on the different types of schools and the different patron bodies. Helplines will be put in place during the survey period to deal with any queries from parents.

Surveying will be carried out in five pilot areas initially - these areas are yet to be decided - with surveys being carried out in these areas in October this year. I understand the Minister aims to start surveying in the balance of the 44 areas in November. I thank the Senator for raising this important issue.