Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I come from an area not too far from Virginia and I remember when it was a six-teacher school. I hope the community will not have to wait as long as the 25 years they did in Laragh down the road. The Senator is correct to raise the matter which is very important. Not alone has there been an influx of people to Virginia, being on the edge of the M3, but it is a very strong agricultural area with many medium to small farmers and I have no doubt they, as well as the people in the town, will have children. If the Senator has any further information I suggest she keeps pushing the matter. The same situation arises in the neighbouring area of Mullagh. The principal there has been in touch with me. The people there were a little disappointed. I suggest the Senator keeps raising the issue because those who lobby hardest get results.

I thank the Senator for raising the question relating to St. Mary's national school, Virginia, County Cavan. The Department of Education and Skills introduced a geographical information system, GIS, in 2008 and this technology is used to assist in planning school requirements for the future. The GIS contains information on all schools in the country, geo-coded to their location. The information is then linked to the relevant demographic information for these areas. Typically the demographic information will be from the Central Statistics Office census data, the general register of births, the Department of Social Protection, An Post's geo-directory and information supplied by local authorities through development plans. The system allows the Department to view, understand, question, interpret and visualise data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns and trends. The external sources of demographic data are further enhanced by the Department's own enrolment data, and all sources are checked against each other to ensure they provide as accurate an overall picture as possible for future enrolment projections.

To meet the needs of our growing population of school-going children, the Department of Education and Skills must establish new schools as well as extending or replacing a number of existing schools, particularly in those areas where it has been identified that most future demographic growth will be concentrated. To ensure that every child has access to a school place, the delivery of projects to meet future demographic demands nationally will be the focus for capital investment in schools over the coming years. The five year construction programme outlines when 275 selected major projects will progress to construction over the next five years as part of a €2 billion capital investment programme. These projects will account for most of the capital funding available from now until 2016.

The Virginia feeder area has five primary schools. Enrolments at primary level have increased over the past decade from 590 pupils in 2001 to 2002 to 1,142 in 2011 to 2012. However, based on an analysis of the above information sources, the Department of Education and Skills has projected that future enrolments in the Virginia feeder area will remain relatively stable to 2018. In fact it is anticipated there will be a slight decrease in enrolments for the catchment area up to 2018. The current enrolment at St. Mary's national school, Virginia, is 380 pupils, increased from 350 in 2007. While enrolment levels have grown significantly at the school since 2000, they have increased by less than 10% over the past five years. This project is at an early stage of architectural planning and will continue to progress to complete the detailed design, secure planning permission and prepare tender documents.

All school building projects not included in the five year construction programme, including St. Mary's, will continue to be progressed, where possible, to final planning stages in anticipation of the possibility of further funds being available to the Department of Education and Skills in future years. However, it is not possible to progress this project to tender and construction at this time. I thank the Senator for raising this matter.