James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

668. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to examine the lack of primary school places for the Naas area in County Kildare for the upcoming school year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5623/16]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In identifying the requirement for additional school places, my Department uses a Geographical Information System to identify the areas under increased demographic pressure nationwide. The system uses data from the Central Statistics Office, Ordnance Survey Ireland, the Department of Social Protection and information from the Department's own databases. Using this information, my Department determines where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and post-primary level.

As the Deputy may be aware a new primary school opened in 2010 and a new post-primary school opened in 2015, providing increased capacity to the existing school provision, in order to meet the needs of the Naas school planning area. It is envisaged that this level of provision will be sufficient to meet the needs of this area in the medium term, and as with the other school planning areas nationwide, the demographic data for the area will be kept under ongoing review by my Department officials.