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.

Where an increasing requirement for school places is identified, my Department first considers any existing capacity across schools in the relevant area. If a need for additional school capacity is established, my Department considers the scope to expand existing schools or any requirement to establish a new school to meet the need.

There is significant recent and current capital investment by my Department at post primary schools in the town to which the Deputy refers and my Department will continue to work to advance the projects to ensure sufficient places for both mainstream provision and for pupils with special education requirements both for the coming academic year and into the future.

At present my Department does not have an application for additional accommodation for the school in question. It is open to the school authority to submit an application for assessment.