Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a Geographical Information System, using data from a range of sources, including Child Benefit and school enrolment data, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise.

Major new residential developments in a school planning area have the potential to alter demand in that area. In that regard, as part of the demographic exercises, the Department engages with each of the local authorities to obtain the up-to-date information on significant new residential development in each area. This is necessary to ensure that schools infrastructure planning is keeping pace with demographic changes.

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.

A patronage process is run after it has been decided, based on demographic analysis, that a new school is required. The New Schools Establishment Group (NSEG) is an external independent advisory group which was set up in 2011 to advise me on the patronage of new schools. The patronage process is open to all patron bodies and prospective patrons.

An Online Patronage Process System (OPPS) provides objective information to parents in the relevant school planning areas to assist them in making an informed choice about their preferred model of patronage and language of instruction for the new school.

A prospective patron can choose the school(s) it wishes to apply for and complete an application form in that regard for each school, for submission to the Department. The Department provides details on the OPPS of the school(s) and the list of applicant patrons which have applied for patronage of the school(s).

Parents access the OPPS website, which allows them to access the appropriate survey for their area, to input the details of the eligible child(ren) and to select their preferred patron and language of instruction (where applicable). Parental preferences, as well as other considerations such as the extent of diversity of provision in an area (including Irish-medium provision), are key to the decision-making process. Such analysis impacts on whether, at post-primary level, a school would take the form of an Irish-medium Gaelcholáiste, or whether, if English-medium, the school would include an Irish-medium unit.

The new policy on Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht, which is currently being developed by the Department, has as one of its key objectives to explore how opportunities for the establishment of Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí can be increased as part of the patronage process.

A public consultation commenced in October 2022 to inform the development of this new policy. This comprised an online questionnaire, a call for written submissions, and a series of focus groups. The information collected in the consultation process is being analysed by the Sealbhú research institute in DCU. Bilateral meetings were also held between an tAonad um Oideachas Gaeltachta and key stakeholders.

A number of pieces of research will also inform the development of the policy:

• A review of national and international research on minority language education (Sealbhú, DCU)
• Research on Irish-medium Aonaid and Sruthanna (Units and Streams) in English-medium schools (a team of researchers from UCC, Mary Immaculate and Munster Technological University)
• A report on current provision for Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht (Department of Education).Two composite reports on inspection findings on the quality of educational provision in Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí (Department of Education).

The Department will continue to liaise with Local Authorities in respect of their County Development Plan and any associated Local Area Plans with a view to identifying any potential long-term school accommodation requirements across school planning areas.