Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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157. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children from Navan town and its catchment area attending secondary schools in other towns; the number of children in County Meath on waiting lists for secondary schools in Navan; if there are sufficient places in secondary schools in Trim, Navan, Athboy and Oldcastle; the locations of these available places; and when the second phase of the school building programme will commence at a school (details supplied). [52681/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I wish to clarify for the Deputy that my Department does not hold a record of the number of pupils from Navan town that attend secondary schools in other towns or the number of children in County Meath on waiting lists for secondary schools in Navan.

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. Further information on the Section 29 appeals process is available on the Department's website www.education.ie.

As the Deputy may be aware, my Department uses a Geographical Information System to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise. The System uses data from a range of sources, including the Central Statistics Office, Ordnance Survey Ireland, the Department of Social Protection and my Department's own databases. With this information, my Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises at primary and post-primary level to determine where additional school accommodation is needed. It is anticipated that decisions based on the latest demographic exercises will be announced in the coming weeks.

Where demographic data indicates that additional provision is required, the delivery of such provision is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may be provided through either one, or a combination of, the following:

- Utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools

- Extending the capacity of a school or schools

- Provision of a new school or schools.

The first phase of the school building project for the school referred to by the Deputy in the details supplied was completed in January 2014.  The second phase of the building project is currently at Stage 2A - Developed Design Stage.

The Deputy will also be aware that post-primary school building projects for Beaufort College, Boyne Community School and Scoil Mhuire, Trim are included in my Department's Construction Programmes. The project at Beaufort College is currently under construction and the architectural planning process for the project at Boyne Community School has commenced. A site visit has been undertaken at Scoil Mhuire as part of the preparatory work associated with advancing the building project.

With the addition of these projects, based on the demographic and enrolment information currently available, there should be sufficient provision for post-primary school places in County Meath.

My Department is keeping the school planning areas in County Meath under ongoing review to take into account of updated child benefit data and updated enrolment data and also the impact of capacity increases in the school planning areas.