Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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65. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 165 of 8 November 2016, if his Department has considered the balance of schools of different ethoi in the Tallaght area; if his Department has considered the lack of an Educate Together secondary school in the Citywest area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35174/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Further to my response to the Deputy of 8 November 2016, Citywest is located within the Tallaght school planning area.There are currently six post-primary schools operating within this school planning area. Four are of a Catholic ethos and the remaining two are non-designated, multi-denominational, Community Colleges, one of which is the new Kingswood Community College which opened in September this year and which when fully developed will provide 1,000 student places. These schools serve the needs of the students in the school planning area, which includes the Citywest area.

There are six school planning areas adjoining Tallaght, with 30 post-primary schools in these adjoining areas:

- Dublin 6W (4)

- Dolphins Barn Dublin 2 (10)

- Firhouse/Oldbawn (3)

- Newcastle/Rathcoole (1)

- Clondalkin Dublin 22 (4)

- Rathfarnham (8)

Of these 30 schools, 25 have a Catholic ethos, one has a Church of Ireland ethos and four have a multi-denominational ethos.

In addition, among the 13 new schools (4 primary and 9 post-primary) announced to open in 2017 and 2018 to cater for increased demographic needs, is a new post-primary school which will open in 2018 in the Firhouse/Oldbawn school planning area, which is adjacent to the Tallaght school planning area.When fully developed, this school will provide 1,000 pupil places, supplementing provision in the greater Tallaght area. The patronage process for this school has recently been completed with Educate Together announced as patron.

As with the other school planning areas nationwide, the demographic data for the Tallaght school planning area is  being kept under review by my Department to take account of updated enrolment data and capacity increases in this and adjoining school planning areas.