Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator once again. One of the things I found out very early in this job was how important the integrity of all 314 school planning areas is. We had an issue in Dublin quite early on. Parents were making a similar demand. They also wished for their feeder school to be moved into a different planning area but the integrity of the planning areas must be respected because we would otherwise not be able to operate a structure to measure demographic changes and demand.

On Temple Carrig secondary school, which the Senator has mentioned, this is a 750-pupil post-primary school established in 2014 with a Church of Ireland ethos. It is in the adjacent Greystones school planning area, some 4 km from St. Andrew's national school in Bray. New schools established since 2011 to meet demographic demand, including Temple Carrig secondary school, are required to prioritise, in the first instance, pupil applications from within the designated school planning areas they were established to serve. The important point, which I know the Senator accepts, is that this does not preclude schools from enrolling pupils from outside of the school planning areas where sufficient places are available. Rather it reflects the need to accommodate, in the first instance, the demographics for which the school was established. There is therefore nothing precluding young primary school students from applying to Temple Carrig secondary school but, because of respect for the integrity of the school planning areas, pupils from within the school planning area are prioritised.

I will reiterate that there are six post-primary schools in the planning area and that demand is growing as a result of demographic increases. This is not only occurring in greater Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, and Louth.I was in the Leas-Chathaoirleach's own county - the kingdom of Kerry - on Friday. As I went through different urban areas of the county, I learned that pressures like increases in the number of housing applications are increasing the level of demand for school places.

I would like to give an indication of the position in the Bray school planning area. Woodbrook College has a Catholic ethos. Loreto secondary school has a Catholic ethos. Presentation College has a Catholic ethos. St. Kilian's community school is an interdenominational school. Coláiste Ráithín is a multidenominational school. North Wicklow Educate Together secondary school is a multidenominational school. There is continuing pressure on school places. As numbers change over the next five or ten years, the pressure will come off the primary sector and there will be increased pressure on post-primary schools. I understand where the Senator is coming from on this matter. If places are available at Temple Carrig school, I am sure students and pupils from St. Andrew's national school will be accommodated.