Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Palmerstown/Ballyfermot/Chapelizod/Cherry Orchard was one of 43 areas surveyed as part of the patronage divesting process in 2013 and the outcome in this area at that time was that there was sufficient parental demand for a multi-denominational school.

As the Deputy will be aware I recently announced that arrangements are being put in place in a number of towns and areas of cities that have no multi-denominational primary schools to identify potential schools and to engage with school authorities, school staff and the school communities with a view to agreeing on a transfer of patronage and change of ethos, where there is sufficient demand for this.

The Council for Education of the Irish Episcopal Conference (representing the Catholic patrons) and relevant Bishops have confirmed their willingness to engage and co-operate fully with the Department in seeking to facilitate a more diverse school patronage in these towns and cities. The engagement has involved reviewing learnings to date and developing agreed arrangements to explore reconfiguration opportunities in these areas as part of a pilot arrangement, as follows: 

*parts of these cities

To facilitate the pilot, the Department has made available a number of independent facilitators across the pilot areas to work with the school patron and relevant school authorities at a local level:

- to progress the reconfiguration pilot initiative;

- to assist in identifying potential school(s) in this regard; and

- to engage with stakeholders including school authorities, school staff and the school community

with a view to agreeing on a transfer of patronage and change of ethos, where there is sufficient demand for this in the pilot areas.

As part of this process, in each area the facilitator appointed by the Department, along with the relevant patron/patron representative will review data on the schools in the area and will engage directly with the relevant school authorities to progress the initiative at a local level. The process will be shaped by the stage (if any) of consideration of reconfiguration in the area concerned and whether any schools have already been identified or have opted-in at this point.

While the facilitators have commenced their work and are working with the patron representatives in each area as outlined above, the process is at an early stage. 

The learnings from the process in the pilot areas should provide a pathway forward on the process for providing multi-denominational options for parents in other towns and areas of the country going forward.