Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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109. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps she is taking to minimise the time spent in temporary accommodation for new schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23949/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a Geographical Information System, using data from a range of sources, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise. With this information, the Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises to determine where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and post-primary level. Information on school enrolments and Child Benefit data allows the Department to map where children are living or attending school and this information provides a degree of certainty in projecting demand in an area in future years.

Three initiatives have been introduced recently to strengthen the demographic analysis process.

The first involves enhancing our engagement with local authorities in relation to the information on residential development incorporated in the analysis process.

The second involves the Department having additional engagement with patron bodies in relation to their local knowledge on school place requirements. Education and Training Boards, Diocesan Offices, and national patron bodies such as Educate Together, an Foras Pátrúnachta etc. can be an important source of local knowledge.

The third involves the Department putting a structure and system in place for a national inventory of school capacity to be completed by individual schools. When schools are providing their annual 30 September enrolment returns to the Department in respect of the Primary On-line Database (POD) for primary schools and Post-Primary On-line Database (PPOD) for post-primary schools, they are now also requested to provide information in respect of overall demand for school places and available capacity within their schools. The compilation and analysis of this information at local, regional and national level through the Department's Geographic Information System (GIS) is an important additional feature of the school planning process. 2019/20 was the first year of this initiative and the approach taken will provide a cost effective and efficient method for the provision and analysis of up to date data in relation to demand and capacity across over 3,500 primary schools and over 750 post-primary schools.

While it is the policy of my Department to ensure a high standard of permanent accommodation for all schools, in the context of a rapidly increasing school population over the last decade or more it is sometimes necessary to make use of temporary accommodation to meet the accommodation needs of schools.

Maximising the opportunities to achieve value for money involves matching, as best as possible, the accommodation requirement with the appropriate permanent or temporary accommodation solution. However, even where an accommodation requirement is for the long-term it may not be possible to achieve this in all cases which then triggers a requirement for an interim accommodation solution. For example, two key factors that impact on the timeline for providing a permanent building for a new school are the identification and acquisition of a suitable site and obtaining planning permission. While good progress has been made on providing better lead in periods for the establishment of new schools and opportunities for use of existing State or other school sites are maximised wherever possible it nevertheless remains a significant challenge to be managed.