Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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296. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to provide additional Gaelscoileanna in the bay area of north County Dublin; if his attention has been drawn to the demand for a Gaelscoil in Clontarf, Dublin 3; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5200/20]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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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 primary school to serve the Killester_Raheny_Clontarf school planning area which was established in September 2019.

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 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 Online Patronage Process System (OPPS) has been developed by my Department to provide objective information to parents and guardians which will allow them to make an informed choice in expressing a preference for their preferred model of patronage and language of instruction i.e. Irish or English for their child’s education.

Following a patronage process, the patronage of the new school to serve the Killester_Raheny_Clontarf school planning area was awarded to Educate Together as an English-medium school in line with the parental preferences received during the process.

In September 2019, I announced that five of the new primary schools being established from 2020-2022 are being designated for Irish-medium education, including new gaelscoileanna to serve Donabate and to serve Donaghmede_Howth_D13 to be established in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The five new schools will serve areas of growing populations where there is no existing Irish-medium primary school or where there is more than one new school to be established between 2019 and 2022. As the Deputy may be aware, there are currently two gaelscoileanna in the Killester_Raheny_Clontarf school planning area.

In addition, the Schools Reconfiguration for Diversity Process provides an opportunity to increase the number of Gaelscoileanna nationwide. The process, which involves the live transfer of existing schools, is designed to provide additional multi-/non-denominational schools in Irish or English and an opportunity is available to English-medium schools seeking to make a transition to Irish-medium provision in that context, in line with the expressed wishes of parents and the local school community. Any school which is seeking a transfer of patronage, including transitioning to Irish-medium provision, should contact their school patron directly.

The requirement for new schools will be kept under on-going review and in particular will have regard to the impact of the increased roll out of housing provision as outlined in Project Ireland 2040. My Department will also continue to monitor areas where the accommodation of existing schools, including gaelscoileanna, may need to be expanded in order to meet the needs of the local population.

Details of schools that provide education through the medium of Irish are available on my Department's website www.education.ie.