Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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311. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason for the recommendation from her Department to remove the school site objective on the phase 3 Golden Ridge site in Rush, County Dublin as part of its submission to the draft Fingal County Council Development Plan 2023-2027. [60634/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department undertakes forward planning activity to identify future school requirements to a high degree.  My Department engages with the local authority statutory planning process, conducts its own demographic analysis and uses the combined information to project school place requirements. 

In regard to the statutory planning process, Core Strategy figures, are published by the local authorities in their statutory plans and are required to be consistent with the National Planning Framework.  In order to ensure this consistency, these statutory plans must include details of where future growth is to be distributed within the relevant area over the lifetime of the plan together with details of population and household projections and the quantum of lands to be zoned for residential and mixed uses. My Department is included among the prescribed bodies to whom local authorities are statutorily obliged to send draft development and local area plans or proposed variations to development plans for comment and observations. My Department engages actively with the statutory planning process and where future population projections for an area indicate the likely future need for a new school to serve that area, my Department requests that a school site be zoned in the statutory plan to cater for a future need. This enables local authorities to reserve future school sites in areas designated for proposed housing development. My Department’s input to the recent Fingal Development Plan 2023 – 2029 is part of a series of ongoing engagements with the Council in relation to population development around the Fingal area and the identification of future school place requirements therein.

A site in Goldenridge was identified by Fingal County Council, under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding with my Department to assist in the identification of suitable school sites. This site option was to provide permanent accommodation for GS Ros Eo. My Department withdrew from the purchase of the site in Goldenridge due to unforeseen circumstances which arose during the conveyancing stage of the acquisition in 2019. Given that there was a pressing requirement for the delivery of GS Ros Eo, it was decided that my Department would deliver the permanent accommodation for the school as part of a campus arrangement with St Joseph’s Secondary School at a reserved school site in Kenure as identified in Fingal County Council’s Rush/Kenure Local Area Plan. This site has since been acquired. The school campus building project has been devolved to a delivery team and the design team has been appointed.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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312. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on an application (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60660/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application for the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school in question. 

My officials have requested supporting documentation from the school authorities. The application will be assessed upon receipt of the requested documentation.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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313. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the fact that secondary schools in Clondalkin, Dublin 22 are already operating waiting lists for the 2023-2024 school year, that numbers on these lists are significant; if her Department intends to provide increased resources in order for secondary schools in the area to increase their intake; and if there are other actions her Department is considering in order to ensure enough school places for young people in the area. [60661/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, for school planning purposes, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a Geographical Information System to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including Child Benefit data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity is used for this purpose.  Additionally, Project Ireland 2040 population and housing targets inform my Department's projections of school place requirements.  Projections of post primary school place requirements are informed by multiple factors, including primary school enrolments in the area and primary to post primary transfer patterns.

My Department's projections of post primary school place requirements in Clondalkin show some continued growth in overall enrolments in the short- to medium-term.  However, despite projected overall growth, first year place requirements are anticipated to remain generally stable, or slightly decline.

While my Department is aware of increasing pressures and demand for additional school places in Clondalkin, it is important to note that where enrolment pressures arise, it may not be as a result of lack of accommodation but may be driven by the following factors:

- Duplication of applications – pupils have applied for a place to a number of schools in the area

- School of choice – pupils can’t get a place in their preferred school while there are places in other schools in the town/area

- Some towns/areas have single sex schools and while places are available in the school they are not available to all pupils

- External draw – pupils coming from outside the local area

My Department is working to establish the true extent of any capacity issues across school planning areas through ongoing discussions with the relevant school patrons and authorities. 

This close engagement will allow my Department to identify at an early stage particular capacity requirements for the forthcoming years which may necessitate further action to that already in train including, where required, the provision of modular accommodation solutions.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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314. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if there is a shortfall of approximately 90 school places between the number of 6th class school places and 1st year school places across schools in the Clondalkin area. [60662/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In relation to school admissions, it is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998 and the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in that area. 

As the Deputy will be aware, for school planning purposes, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a Geographical Information System to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including Child Benefit data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity is used for this purpose.  Additionally, Project Ireland 2040 population and housing targets inform my Department's projections of school place requirements.  Projections of post primary school place requirements are informed by multiple factors, including primary school enrolments in the area and primary to post primary transfer patterns.

My Department's projections of post primary school place requirements in Clondalkin show some continued growth in overall enrolments in the short- to medium-term.  However, despite projected overall growth, first year place requirements are anticipated to remain generally stable, or slightly decline.

While my Department is aware of increasing pressures and demand for additional school places in Clondalkin, it is important to note that where enrolment pressures arise, it may not be as a result of lack of accommodation but may be driven by the following factors:

- Duplication of applications – pupils have applied for a place to a number of schools in the area

- School of choice – pupils can’t get a place in their preferred school while there are places in other schools in the town/area

- Some towns/areas have single sex schools and while places are available in the school they are not available to all pupils

- External draw – pupils coming from outside the local area

My Department is working to establish the true extent of any capacity issues across school planning areas through ongoing discussions with the relevant school patrons and authorities. 

This close engagement will allow my Department to identify at an early stage particular capacity requirements for the forthcoming years which may necessitate further action to that already in train including, where required, the provision of modular accommodation solutions.