Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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17. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of primary and secondary school places available and awarded to children in the State in each of the past ten years and to date in 2022, in tabular form. [34035/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy has asked for information on primary and post-primary school places for the 10 years to 2022.  I will arrange to have details forwarded in tabular form.

As a summary, I will say that enrolments at primary level over the last 10 years grew from 509,652 in the 2010/11 school year to 567,772 in 2018/19, and have been reducing since then. It is expected that they will continue to reduce for the next decade.

At post-primary level (excluding PLC), enrolments stood at 317,427 in the 2010/11 school year and grew steadily in the 10 years to 379,184 in 2020/2021. Post primary enrolments are expected to continue to grow until reaching a peak in 2024/25, after which they are expected to decline.

The Projections of full-time enrolment for primary and second level from 2021 – 2040 have been published on my Department’s website, as well as Regional Projections of full-time enrolments Primary and Second Level, out to 2036 which shows the variations expected across the eight NUTS 3 Regional Authority areas. The data in the latter report builds on the state projections of enrolments has been modelled on the Central Statistics Office (CSO) Regional Projections published in June 2019.

Reports showing actual enrolment figures and class sizes in individual primary schools and reports showing actual enrolment figures in individual post-primary schools, fee paying and boarding schools are also available on the website. This data is collected from schools in the first term of each school year by way of the Primary Online Database (POD) and

Post Primary Online Database (PPOD) in which schools record Pupil Identity Data and School Enrolment Data for all learners.

The Statistics Unit of my Department is responsible for the collection and analysis of statistical data and trends relating to education and it publishes updates to such reports regularly.

In relation to places available, heretofore the Department has not compiled the availability of places across all class years on an individual school basis.

However, as part of the humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine, the Government is committed to welcoming people fleeing war in Ukraine and to meet the immediate education needs of Ukrainian children through the utilisation of existing accommodation capacity within schools across the country. 

To this end, the Department recently has carried out surveys at primary and post primary level on potential capacity at individual school level that could be made available to facilitate children from Ukraine with school placements. 

These surveys have indicated good capacity at a national level primary and post-primary level to cater for Ukrainian children, although it is anticipated that there will be regional or local pressure points.

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