Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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601. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she or her officials will meet the ‘D8 New School’ group of parents in relation to the provision of secondary education in Dublin 8. [37397/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In order to plan for school place needs, 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 to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise and where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and post-primary level.

While my Department is aware of enrolment pressures and demand for additional school places in some areas, 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's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. 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.
• Where demographic data indicates that additional provision is required, the delivery of such additional provision is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may, be provided through:
• Utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools,
• Extending the capacity of a school or schools,
• Provision of a new school or schools.

There are 5 Post Primary schools in the Dublin 8 School Planning Area. The published school’s enrolment data for the 2022/23 academic year reported 1,147 enrolments in post primary schools in the Dublin 8 School Planning Area. Surveys conducted during the academic year indicated additional available capacity at these schools.

The enrolments for 6^thclass for 2022 was 430. The intake level at Post Primary for Dublin_8 is 55% - the intake pattern shows the percentage of children attending 6^thclass in primary schools in this SPA that enrolled in 1^styear in a Post Primary in the SPA in the previous 2 years. 62% of First years attended primary school within the SPA.

The most recent projections for Dublin 8 School Planning Area indicate a slight increase in requirements at post primary level up to 2031 followed by a projected reduction in enrolments thereafter.

A new co-educational, multidenominational school under the patronage of Educate Together was established to serve the Dublin 8 School Planning Area, along with Dublin 2, Dublin 4, Dublin 6, Clonskeagh School Planning Areas as a regional solution. In 2020 the school opened in interim accommodation and the major project, which will provide for a 1,000 pupil school when complete, is currently at stage 3. This new school will reduce pressure on schools in the Dublin 8 School Planning Area.

The Department will continue to liaise with Local Authorities in respect of their County Development Plans and any associated Local Area Plans with a view to identifying any potential long-term school accommodation requirements across School Planning Areas including in Dublin 8.

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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602. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the intake ratio at secondary level for all school planning areas, broken down by individual school planning area, in each of the years 2015-2019, or by two-year period, in tabular form; and to clarify if such figures include fee paying schools. [37417/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Data supplied is for academic years 2016-2019 for 1st years in each SPA based on the previous 6th class in each SPA (School Planning Area). Where the percentage is greater than 100% for an SPA, the number of pupils attending 1st year in the SPA is greater than the number of pupils living in the SPA when enrolled in 6th class in the previous year. As individualised data is not available for primary pupils years prior to 2015, the introduction of the Primary Online Database, we cannot supply data for years prior to 2016. Post-primary data for each year includes enrolments in fee-charging schools.

Please find attached requested data.