Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy may be aware, my Department is aware of pressures for school places for the 2024/25 school year in North Kildare.

A critical next step for the Department is to establish the actual number of additional first year places required for 2024 in order for an appropriate solution to be put in place. In that context, schools in a number of areas of enrolment pressure, including Naas, Prosperous, Clane, Celbridge, Leixlip, Maynooth and Kilcock, have been requested to share data on applications for admissions. This data has been received by my officials and is currently being analysed with a view to establishing the actual requirement for places. Preliminary assessments indicate that duplications of applications, and applications from outside the local area, are very much contributing to enrolment pressures in the town.

The Department is working to clarify the actual requirement for additional school places and to identify particular further capacity requirements for 2024 and forthcoming years. The Department will engage with schools and patrons to put any required solutions in place - beyond those that are already in train - to ensure sufficient school places to meet the needs of students in the area.

The information requested by the Deputy is not available at this time. The availability of places is a matter for each individual school in the context of the Admissions legislation.