Written answers

Tuesday, 12 June 2018

Department of Education and Skills

Schools Building Projects Data

Photo of Noel RockNoel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael)
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345. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the last new school planning area was added. [24732/18]

Photo of Noel RockNoel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael)
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346. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the current system of school planning areas was initiated. [24733/18]

Photo of Noel RockNoel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael)
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347. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way in which school planning areas take account of entirely new suburbs which did not exist when the original school planning areas were designed. [24734/18]

Photo of Noel RockNoel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael)
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348. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the deviation in population that necessitates a new school planning area. [24735/18]

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 345 to 348, inclusive, together.

As the Deputy will be aware, in order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data in a way that takes account of the significant local and regional variations in demographic trends and enrolment projections, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas, of which some 40 are in Dublin.

Using school planning area boundaries within my Department’s Geographic Information System (GIS) allows data within those boundaries, including data for enrolments in schools, child benefit and other relevant data to be added to the mapping information, grouped and analysed. The GIS records the number of primary and post-primary schools within each planning area, the combined enrolments for all of the schools within each area, including total enrolment and enrolment in each class group, together with child benefit data for the 0-4 age group relevant to the area.

In most areas, school planning areas were based on traditional school catchment areas where all primary schools were assigned to a post-primary feeder area (typically a population centre or town), containing one or more post-primary schools. The school planning areas were developed for use with the GIS in 2008 and with the introduction of Small Areas in Census 2011, these areas were amended to align with Census Small Areas. The current school planning areas take account not only of local groupings of schools, but also of natural boundaries, Census Small Areas and other local conditions. These school planning areas are used in the demographic exercise as a basis for the assessment of areas of growth and to inform recommendations on the establishment of any new schools required in that school planning area.

Major new residential developments in a school planning area have the potential to alter demand in that area. In that regard, as part of the recent demographic exercises, my Department engaged with each of the local authorities to obtain the up-to-date data on significant new residential development in each area. This is necessary to ensure that schools infrastructure planning is keeping pace with demographic changes as there is a constantly evolving picture with planned new residential development, including additional residential developments arising from the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF).

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