Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 204: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will report on her Department's system of forward planning in order to enable it to anticipate an increase in demand for primary school places in existing built-up urban areas which are undergoing significant rejuvenation, such as the area contained within the remit of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7394/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The process of assessing the need for new or additional educational facilities at primary or post-primary level in any given area entails consideration of all relevant factors, including enrolment and demographic trends, housing and other developments and the capacity of existing schools to meet the demand for places. As part of this process, my Department is included among the prescribed authorities to whom local authorities are statutory obliged to send draft development plans or proposed variations to development plans for comment. As a matter of course meetings are arranged with local authorities to establish the location, scale and pace of any major proposed developments and their possible implications for school provision. The local authority is requested to reserve a site for educational purposes if this is deemed necessary.

With regard to the planning of educational provision in areas of proposed regeneration, my Department seeks to optimise the use of existing provision in the first instance. It is necessary to adopt this approach due to the limited availability and prohibitive costs of new sites in such areas. Officials in the school planning section of my Department are strengthening contacts with local authorities to enable informed decisions to be made in planning future educational provision. For example, the Dublin school planning committee, chaired by officials of my Department, interacts with the Dublin local authorities. This forum comprises representatives of the local authorities in Dublin together with representatives of the patron bodies of primary schools and works proactively in monitoring demographic changes and their likely impact.