Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 80: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the way in which she proposes to address the growing problem of adequate provision of school places for children in areas of expanding population; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12997/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The school planning section of my Department is charged with planning the provision of suitable cost effective accommodation to underpin the delivery of first and second level education. Key tasks of the section include ensuring that there are sufficient pupil places available in first and second level schools and that the use of existing accommodation is optimised.

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 developments and the capacity of existing schools to meet the demand for places. Liaison with existing schools is an important part of the process also, as the school authorities would usually alert my Department where, in their view, the need for additional accommodation is anticipated. In this way, every effort is made to ensure that there is adequate existing provision or that timely arrangements are made to extend capacity or provide new infrastructure where necessary.

Over and above the statutory consultation provisions relating to draft area development plans, my Department has in recent years worked to strengthen contacts with local authorities to enable informed decisions to be made in planning future educational provision, for example, a specific forum, 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 it works proactively in monitoring demographic changes and their likely impact.

The criteria for prioritising large scale building projects were revised following consultation with the education partners. Under the revised criteria, school projects in rapidly developing areas are assigned a band 1 rating which is the highest priority possible. This is clear evidence of my Department's commitment to ensuring that the needs of rapidly developing areas are met as quickly as possible.

The school planning section of my Department is also working proactively with some local authorities to explore the possibility of the development of school provision in tandem with the development of community facilities. This enhanced cooperation has the effect of minimising my Department's land requirements and thus reducing site costs while at the same time providing local communities with new schools with enhanced facilities. In addition, under the provisions of the strategic development zones, SDZ, it is generally the position that sites must be reserved for schools and that the schools must be developed commensurate with housing and other developments such as community facilities.

My Department has recently adopted an area based approach to school planning where, through a public consultation process involving all interested parties, a blueprint for schools' development in an area for a ten year timeframe is set out. The areas covered in the pilot phase of this new approach to school planning include the rapidly developing areas of north Dublin, south Louth, mid-Meath and the N4/M4 route running from Leixlip to Kilbeggan and including all rapidly developing towns and villages on that route.

Taken in combination the measures outlined will improve the speed and effectiveness of the response to emerging needs in rapidly developing areas.