Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

214. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the identification and acquisition of sites for the two new secondary schools to serve the communities of Malahide, Portmarnock and Swords in County Dublin and for the permanent building for the Malahide Portmarnock Educate Together national school; the time frame for the identification and acquisition; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17244/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy may be aware, the building projects for the new post primary schools to serve Malahide/Portmarnock and Swords are included in the 6 year construction programme that was announced last November, and these schools are listed to go to construction in 2019-21. Malahide Portmarnock Educate Together NS is currently in temporary accommodation on a Teagasc-owned property in Kinsealy and the project to deliver permanent accommodation for this school is also on the construction programme.

Officials in my Department are liaising with officials in Fingal County Council in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding in relation to the identification and acquisition of suitable locations for all three schools.

Agreement in principle has been reached in respect of a site for the new post primary school in Swords and my Department is currently progressing with its acquisition.

In relation to the new post primary school to serve Malahide/Portmarnock the technical feasibility of an identified site option is currently being comprehensively assessed by officials from my Department in liaison with officials from the Local Authority.

Similarly, for Malahide Portmarnock Educate Together NS, an assessment of technical suitability in respect of an identified site option is currently being undertaken.

Due to commercial sensitivities relating to site acquisitions generally I am unfortunately not in a position to provide further details at this time. I can, however, assure you that the site acquisitions for all three schools are being advanced by my Department.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

215. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of where two new secondary schools to serve the communities of Malahide, Portmarnock and Swords in County Dublin will open in September 2017 in temporary accommodation until a new permanent building is delivered; how long the temporary accommodation will be functional; the temporary accommodation that is available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17245/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to identify where the pressure for school places will arise. The GIS uses data from the Central Statistics Office, Ordnance Survey Ireland, the Department of Social Protection and information from my Department's own databases.

The outcome of the latest demographic exercises, based on the GIS, was the announcement in November 2015 of the establishment of 13 new schools to open nationwide in 2017 and 2018 to cater for increased demographic needs. One of the new post-primary schools will serve the Swords school planning area and one will serve the Malahide and Portmarnock school planning areas. Both new schools will open in 2017 and both are included in my Department's six year construction programme (2016-2021). Details on the progress of all projects on this programme will be published on my Department's website and this will be updated regularly.

My Department are liaising with Fingal County Council in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding in relation to the identification and acquisition of suitable locations for these schools.

Agreement in principle has been reached in respect of a site for the new post-primary school in Swords and my Department is currently progressing with its acquisition.

In relation to the new post-primary school to serve the Malahide and Portmarnock areas, the technical feasibility of an identified site option is currently being comprehensively assessed by officials from my Department in liaison with officials from the Local Authority.

Due to commercial sensitivities relating to site acquisitions generally, I am, unfortunately, not in a position to provide further details at this time. I can, however, assure you that the site acquisitions for both of these schools are being advanced by my Department and that pending the delivery of the permanent school buildings, temporary accommodation will be provided.