Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 726: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her Department will be in a position to meet with a group (details supplied) in County Dublin, as per the request from 2007 in view of progress that has been made in securing a site in the Lucan south area. [11513/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is conscious of the extent of housing developments in the Lucan area and the consequences which this has for school provision. Because of this, substantial additional accommodation has been provided in the area by my Department at both primary and post-primary level in recent years and this is set to continue for the foreseeable future.

Based on current demographic trends, my Department anticipates that there will be a need for a further post-primary school in Lucan in the medium term and it has asked South Dublin County Council to identify a site for this development. A timeframe for the delivery of the school will be known when a suitable site has been identified and acquired. The local authority has a number of Local Area Plans in train and it is likely that we will be able to secure a site under this process. My Department is conscious of the lead-in period for the delivery of a post-primary school and it would be anxious to conclude the site issue as soon as possible. It will continue to engage with the local authority until this matter is resolved.

In the meantime, my Department has increased capacity at the four existing post-primary schools to 3,000 places overall. The current combined enrolment is 2,500 which means that there is spare capacity for some 500 pupil places. A building project which is in train for Lucan Community College will further increase capacity by 200 pupil places. In addition to this, a building project for St Joseph's College has been assessed and the project brief, which will provide an additional 200 pupils places, has been agreed.

The combined total of extra places which will be available when these projects are completed will be 900 which is the equivalent to the size of a post primary school in its own right. These measures will assist in reducing pressure for pupil places in the short to medium term while the process of advancing the project for a new school continues.

It would be premature for my Department to meet with the group referred to until such time as a suitable site has been identified and acquired.