Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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931. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the necessary requirements for a voluntary group of parents wishing to set up a new school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37414/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The new school establishment process is initiated by my Department identifying the requirement to establish a new school in a particular area in order to meet demographic demand in that area. Once the requirement is established, my Department then conducts a process to allow for different patrons/bodies to be considered as the patron of the new school. A school patron has significant responsible duties which relate to the whole school community including students, teachers, parents and the wider community served by the school. A prospective school patron therefore needs to be able to demonstrate sufficient structure, continuity and reliability to conduct the responsible functions of patron in an ongoing way. For a group that is not a statutory body and wishes to be established as patron of a school, the group needs to establish itself as a corporate entity or as some other acceptable legal entity. In this process the group should articulate its educational philosophy and educational objectives in the memorandum and articles of association. The group should name three members as directors/trustees. Among the other requirements is that the applicant patron should have charitable status. Meeting these requirements in themselves does not confer any automatic right to become a patron of a new school. The awarding of patronage of new schools is governed by a patronage determination process and all applicants must comply with published mandatory requirements and criteria under that process. Full details of that process are published on my Department's website.