Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post primary level, including children and young people with special educational needs is an absolute priority for the Department.

As the Deputy may be aware, 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 of school place requirements.

It is important to note that where enrolment pressures arise, it may not always 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; and

External draw – pupils coming from outside the local area.

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; and

Provision of a new school or schools.

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.

There are currently a number of active projects at primary level in the Naas School Planning Areas which will increase local capacity. The Capital Programme details the school projects that are being progressed under Project Ireland 2040. The current status of large-scale projects being delivered under Project Ireland 2040, may be viewed on my Department's website at www.gov.ie and this information is updated regularly. In addition, a list of large-scale projects completed from 2010 to date may also be viewed on the website.

My Department will continue to keep the school place requirements in Kill, as with other areas across the country, under review.