Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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524. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will examine the case of a child (details supplied) in Dublin 3 who has been on a school waiting list since birth, who is living in the school catchment area, who has an older sibling in the school and who apparently meets all the usual criteria for admission to a primary school, but whose parents are now told there is no place for the child this year as the school is over-booked; if her Department controls or has an input into these admission policies and the operation of same; if the school has advised of its over-booking situation this year; if this has been a feature for a number of years; if so, the action that has been taken to resolve the issue; the average age of children starting school currently; the number of children aged four years and seven months certified by health nurses and Montessori teachers as being ready for school who were refused admission this year or other years; her Department’s involvement in the operation of policies and selection of children; if there is any oversight of policies by her Department, as some parents express doubts as to whether policies are being fairly administered; the action that will be taken to have this child admitted to the school of the parents' choice, given that the child's name is on the list since birth and all the normal criteria have been met; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25937/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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It is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998. The enrolment policy must be non-discriminatory and must be applied fairly in respect of all applicants.

This Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. Parents can choose which school to apply to and where the school has places available the pupil should be admitted. However, in schools where there are more applicants than places available a selection process may be necessary.This selection process and the enrolment policy on which it is based must be non-discriminatory and must be applied fairly in respect of all applicants. However, this may result in some pupils not obtaining a place in the school of their first choice.

Section 29 of the Education Act, 1998 provides for an appeal by a parent or guardian to the Secretary General of my Department, or in the case of an Educational Training Board (ETB) school to the ETB in the first instance, where a Board of Management of a school, or a person acting on behalf of the Board, refuses to enrol a student in a school, expels a student or suspends a student for 20 or more days in any school year.

The Educational Welfare Service of the Child and Family Agency (EWS) is the statutory agency which can assist parents who are experiencing difficulty in securing a school place for their child. The EWS can be contacted at 01-8738700.

I published the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill in early April. The Bill is on the Government's legislative programme for enactment in this session. The Bill provides an over-arching framework to ensure that how schools decide on who is enrolled and who is refused a place in schools is more structured, fair and transparent.