John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister sends his apologies for not being here this morning.

I thank Senators Clifford-Lee and Reilly for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity to outline the current position in terms of the accommodation needs of St. Molaga's national school, Balbriggan, County. Dublin. As both Senators will be aware, St. Molaga's is a co-educational national school that caters for pupils from third to sixth class. The school has a current enrolment complement of 462 pupils and a mainstream staffing complement of 17 mainstream teachers. In addition, the school has seven special education support posts and two special classes approved by the National Council for Special Education that cater for pupils with specific learning disabilities.

As the Senators may be aware, in order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas. The Department regularly carries out nationwide demographic exercises at primary and post-primary levels to determine where additional school accommodation is needed.

St. Molaga's national school is located in the Balbriggan school planning area. The area is comprised of 11 primary schools with ten catering for junior infant intake. St. Molaga's national school is a senior school that caters for boys and girls from third to sixth class.

The demographic data for the Balbriggan school planning area, as with other school planning areas nationwide, is constantly kept under ongoing review by the Department that takes into account updated child benefit and enrolment data. It is anticipated that decisions based on these exercises will be announced before year end.

In that regard, the Department's six-year construction programme 2016-21 aims to prioritise new building projects and major extensions, including special schools, in areas where demographic need has been established by the Department. In addition, the construction programme also provides for devolved funding for additional classrooms for schools, including special schools, where an immediate accommodation requirement has been identified, or where an additional teacher has been appointed. In this regard, a project for St. Molaga's national school is included in the Department's construction programme to primarily replace existing temporary accommodation with permanent accommodation. In that regard I understand that the Department is currently preparing a project brief. This process will include consultation with the relevant stakeholders, which includes the school authorities and the school patron, regarding the extent of the accommodation required to meet the needs of the school. The completion of the project will facilitate the project to be progressed into the architectural planning stage, which now includes the appointment of a design team.

I thank both Senators for giving me an opportunity to outline the current position regarding the proposed major school project at St. Molaga's national school. I also confirm the Department's commitment to progressing the project for the school.