Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 359: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her plans to provide a second level school in Shankhill, County Dublin; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16272/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I have no plans at present to develop a new post-primary school in the Shankill area. The school planning section of my Department is satisfied that there is sufficient capacity in the second level schools within a reasonable distance of Shankill to cater for current and future demand in the area.

On a general note, my Department is included among the prescribed authorities to whom local authorities are statutorily 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. Any future school developments in Shankill or the Cherrywood area will be the subject of discussions with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.