Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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351. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of section 29 appeals that have been filed with her in 2022 and to date in 2023, by county; the number of those that were successful; and the number that were not; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55269/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Section 29 of the Education Act 1998 as inserted by Section 7 of the Education (Admissions to schools) Act 2018 provides for an appeal, where a board of management, or a person acting on behalf of the board of management (normally the school principal) refuses to admit a student to a school, suspends a student for not less than 20 days or permanently excludes a student.

Section 29 D of this legislation provides for an oral hearing to be provided in circumstances where the appeal taken relates to a suspension of not less than 20 days, a permanent exclusion and a refusal to enrol decision that is for reasons other than oversubscription.

Section 29 E of the legislation provides that any appeal taken in respect of refused enrolment due to oversubscription, will be considered without an oral hearing.

Each appeal type, both oral and paper based is considered and determined by a three person appeal committee, appointed by me, as Minister, in accordance with Section 29 A(1) of the Act.

Within each appeal type, there is a provision for the hearing committee to allow or disallow or refuse to hear or determine the appeal before them. Section 29D, E and F outline the considerations that the appeals committee must make in determining each appeal. An appeal committee of three persons is appointed to consider each appeal.

The Section 29 Appeals Committee are statutory decision making bodies under the Education Act 1998 (as amended) and the Department does not decide on matters relating to how an appeal is conducted or the decision that may be made by them.

Please see attached, the number of Section 29 appeals that have been filed with this Department in 2022 and to date in 2023 by county. Information on the outcome of these appeals is also included.

2022

*2023

*Completed appeals as of 07 December 2023

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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352. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children that were not offered a school place in north Wicklow and north Kildare in 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023. [55270/23]

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.

While my Department is aware of increasing pressures and demand for additional school places 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.

Parents have the right to choose which school to apply to and where the school has places available the pupil should be admitted. However, in schools where there are more applicants than places available a selection process may be necessary. This selection process and the enrolment policy on which it is based must be non-discriminatory and must be applied fairly in respect of all applicants. However, this may result in some pupils not obtaining a place in the school of their first choice.

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 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.

The specific information requested is not available at this time.

The Educational Welfare Services (EWS) of the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) is the statutory agency that can assist parents who are experiencing difficulty in securing a school place for their child. The local service is delivered through the national network of Educational Welfare Officers (EWO). Contact details are available at www.tusla.ie/get-in-touch/education-and-.