Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 360: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her plans or proposals to amalgamate all or any of second level schools (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7444/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The draft area development plan for the north Kerry area will be published very shortly. The plan will cover educational provision in the Tralee, Ballybunion, Causeway, Tarbert, Listowel and Castleisland areas. This new model for planning for educational infrastructure is designed to ensure that, in future, school provision will be decided after a transparent consultation process. In this regard, trustees, parents, sponsors of prospective schools and all interested parties from a locality will have the opportunity to have their voices heard in the process.

The process involves the publication of a draft area development plan of which the main components are: details of existing primary and post-primary provision, examination of the demographics of the area, commentary on the data, recommendations for the area into the future.

Following publication of the draft area development plan, the commission on school accommodation will conduct a public engagement process to which all interested parties can make submissions. All of these submissions will be published. The process in each case culminates in the publication of a final area development plan against which all capital funding decisions will be made over the next decade. The configuration of second level provision in the area referred to by the Deputy will be considered in the context of the north Kerry area development plan.