Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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46. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans for a new secondary school in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15; the location his Department plans to locate the school; the catchment area to be covered by the new school; his views on whether the new school addresses the needs for school places in areas in which a significant amount of new housing is being developed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10873/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, in April 2018, the Government announced plans for the establishment of 42 new schools over the next four years (2019 to 2022), including a new 800 pupil post-primary school (to be established in 2020) to serve the Blanchardstown_West_Dublin15 and BlanchardstownVge_Dublin15 school planning areas as a regional solution.

This announcement follows nationwide demographic exercises carried out by my Department into the future need for primary and post-primary schools across the country and the 4-year horizon will enable increased lead-in times for planning and delivery of the necessary infrastructure.

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 demographic exercises, my Department engages 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).

It was decided to open a school as a regional solution as the projected growth in each school planning area did not warrant provision of a new school, but the combined demographic increases across both school planning areas indicate sufficient demand for a viable school.

A patronage process is run after it has been decided, based on demographic analysis, that a new school is required. This patronage process is open to all patron bodies and prospective patrons. Parental preferences for each patron, from parents of children who reside in the school planning areas concerned, together with the extent of diversity currently available in these areas, are key to decisions in relation to the outcome of this process.

The patronage process for new schools is overseen by an external independent advisory group, the New Schools Establishment Group (NSEG). Following their consideration of my Department’s assessment reports, the NSEG submits a report with recommendations to me for consideration and final decision. The assessment reports and the NSEG recommendations for all such patronage processes are made available on my Department's website.

An Online Patronage Process System (OPPS) has been developed by my Department to provide objective information to all parents which will allow them to make an informed choice about their preferred model of patronage for their child’s education. Parental preferences were previously collected based on direct engagement with patron bodies.

The patronage process for primary and post-primary schools to be established in 2020 will commence in 2019, significantly ahead of their due opening. Updates in relation to further patronage processes will be announced on the OPPS website and my Department’s website (www.education.ie).

I can confirm that a site acquisition process is currently underway and my Department is examining potential solutions for the new post primary school in question. The location for the school will be determined as part of this site selection process. A decision has yet to be finalised, however, it is expected that a preferred option will be identified in the near future in relation to an appropriate site and announced shortly thereafter. Due to commercial sensitivities with site acquisitions in general, it is not possible to comment further at this point but assurances can be given that my Department is working to ensure that the site acquisition process concludes at the earliest possible date.