John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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211. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if provision will be made for a new second level school in the area of Saggart and Citywest in view of the population and of new housing developments under way; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8675/18]

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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212. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if an analysis has been carried out as to the requirements for a second level school in the Saggart and Citywest area of County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8676/18]

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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213. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he is satisfied that a school (details supplied) will have sufficient capacity to cater for pupils in future years from three new feeder schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8677/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 211 to 213, inclusive, together.

As the Deputy may be aware, in order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas. My Department uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise. The GIS 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.

Where demographic data indicates that additional provision is required, the delivery of such additional provision is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may, depending on the circumstances, 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.

For school planning purposes, the Saggart and Citywest areas reside within the Tallaght and Newcastle-Rathcoole School Planning Areas.

The new 1,000 pupil post-primary school referred to by the Deputy in the Kingswood area of Tallaght opened in September 2016 to serve the needs of the students in the school planning area, which includes the Citywest area and a building project for this school is commenced construction in August 2017.

In addition, a new post-primary school is due to open in 2018 in the Firhouse/Oldbawn school planning area, which is adjacent to the Tallaght area. When fully developed, this school will provide 1,000 pupil places.

Nationwide demographic exercises involving all school planning areas, including Tallaght and Newcastle-Rathcoole, which will determine where additional school accommodation will be needed in the future, is currently ongoing and this work is almost complete.