Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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110. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide details regarding the procedures for the making of a final decision on whether or not to proceed with a proposal to reconfigure schools in the listed pilot areas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59718/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In March 2022 I announced that arrangements are being put in place in a number of towns and areas of cities that have no multi-denominational primary schools at present as part of a pilot reconfiguration arrangement. This work involves identifying potential schools and engaging with school authorities, school staff and the school communities, including parents, with a view to agreeing on a transfer of patronage and change of ethos, where there is sufficient demand for this.

Where a school transfers from the patronage of one patron to another, the school remains open with the same roll number and operating from the same school property. All State-funded primary schools follow a common national curriculum and are subject to the same rules and regulations.

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 pilot areas are:

My 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 parents

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 the structured engagement process, the relevant facilitator engages with the school Principal and Board of Management Chairperson (or full Board as appropriate), school staff and parents of children in the school. In respect of parents, the structured engagement process involves the facilitator inviting parents to an information meeting where the facilitator makes a presentation to parents providing information on the schools reconfiguration for diversity process initiative, including information on what this may mean for parents and pupils and setting out the steps in the engagement process. At the information meeting with the facilitator, parents have the opportunity to raise any questions and to share their views.

Following this, the facilitator and patron/patron’s representative where appropriate, reviews the engagement as part of each of the information sessions with the school community and the facilitator writes a preliminary report reflecting the engagement with the school authorities, staff and parents and submits this to the patron.

In pilot areas where the engagement has already progressed to this stage, the facilitator’s preliminary report to the patron was circulated to the full school community and a reconfiguration e-mail address was provided so that the school community, including parents, could provide any feedback/views and the Department collated this and provided this to the relevant facilitator.

An information pack for school communities, including parents, on transfer of patronage was published in March this year and can be accessed from: www.gov.ie/schoolsreconfiguration

Parents in the pilot areas can contact my Department directly by e-mail to ask questions or share their views on reconfiguration@education.gov.ie .