Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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171. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason his Department's planning and building unit has not contacted primary schools in Balbriggan to assess capacity needs for the 2018/2019 school year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11497/18]

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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172. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if there are enough primary school places in the Balbriggan area to cater for the demand for the 2018/2019 school year in view of the fact that a school (details supplied) has completed its junior infant intake for September 2018 and was unable to cater for the applications of 88 children. [11498/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 171 and 172 together.

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 my Department’s own databases. With this information, my Department is currently carrying out demographic analyses to determine where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and at post-primary level. It is anticipated that decisions based on these exercises will be announced in the coming weeks.

In relation to the Balbriggan school planning area, my Department’s main responsibility is to ensure that the existing schools in the Balbriggan area can, between them, cater for the demand from within the school planning area in the 2018/19 school year. It is important that school size is monitored and that a balance is preserved among all schools in the school planning area to ensure that one school is not expanding at the expense of another school.

In this regard, my Department will continue to monitor the position in the Balbriggan area, but considers that there is adequate accommodation between the existing primary schools in the Balbriggan area to meet demand.