Written answers
Wednesday, 19 June 2024
Department of Education and Skills
School Admissions
Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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38. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the newly planned school in the Donaghmede/Howth/D13/Baldoyle/Stapolin school planning area has been deferred; the number of students who did not receive a place and were listed on the waiting list for two schools (details supplied) in September 2022 and September 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26342/24]
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
- External draw – pupils coming from outside the local area
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.
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 their Admissions legislation. Enrolment data for previous schools years is on available on the Department website. Provisional enrolment data for the 2023/24 school year is available of the Departments website at .
The planned establishment of new post-primary school in 2021 to serve the Donaghmede_Howth_D13/Baldoyle/Stapolin school planning area was announced in 2018 as a result of a countrywide demographic exercise. Further analysis has since been conducted on the necessity for the establishment of planned new schools taking into account a number of factors including the pace of delivery of the expected additional residential development in the school planning areas, associated enrolments and the capacity in existing schools in the areas.
A number of school building projects are underway in the School Planning Area as outlined below:
Santa Sabina Dominican College. A project which will provide an additional four general classrooms has been approved under the Additional School Accommodation Scheme. The project is at stage 1.
Belmayne Educate Together Secondary School was established in 2019. The school is in interim accommodation on its permanent site and three additional classrooms and one specialist room has been approved for the 2022/2023 academic year. A major project to provide permanent accommodation for the school is currently at Stage 4. The school will cater for 1,000 pupils in the long-term.
Gaelcholaiste Reachrann. A major project to provide permanent accommodation for the school is at tender stage and construction is expected to be completed by mid 2024. This will provide capacity for 600 pupils.
Grange Community College. There are plans to expand this school to cater for 1,000 pupils and the project is currently at Stage 1.
Two new primary schools were established in this school planning area recently:
Stapolin ETNS was established in 2019. A proposed new 16-classroom school is currently at Stage 5. The school is currently in interim accommodation pending construction of the permanent new school building. The school is currently a 4 teacher school.
Killester Raheny Clontarf ETNS was established in 2019. It is currently a 4 teacher school and is operating in interim accommodation. A proposed new 8 classroom schools is currently at Stage 1.
It is expected that these new schools together with the existing primary school accommodation will cater for the future primary school demand for Donaghmeade_Howth_D13 school planning area.
My Department will continue to keep the school place requirements in Donaghmede_Howth_D13, as with other areas across the country, under review.
Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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39. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will outline, in relation to the Donaghmede/Howth/D13/Baldoyle/Stapolin school planning area, how her Department assesses the demand for secondary school places where significant new developments are being constructed; if this assessment takes place in the planning of new developments or after the developments are built; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26343/24]
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.
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 CSO Census data, Child Benefit and school enrolment data, 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.
Major new residential developments have the potential to alter the demand for school places at a local level. In that regard, as part of the demographic demand analysis, my Department monitors planning and construction activity in the residential sector. This involves the analysis of data sources from Local Authorities and the CSO along with the engagement with local authorities and the construction sector. In this way, up-to-date information on significant new residential developments is obtained and factored into the demographic analysis exercise. This is necessary to ensure that schools infrastructure planning is keeping pace with demographic changes, at a local level, where there is a constantly evolving picture with planned new residential development.
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
- 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. If additional accommodation is required, the aim to try and facilitate this, as much as possible, by way of expansion of existing schools rather than establishing new schools. The expansion of existing schools is consistent with wider Government objectives under Project Ireland 2040 for an increased emphasis on compact growth. In respect of post primary schools, new post primary schools must have a student enrolment capacity of 600-1,000 students and must be co-educational. A lower threshold of 400 students may apply to Gaelcholáistí, having regard to the alternative of establishing an Irish-medium unit (Aonad) in an English-medium school.
New schools are only established in areas of demographic growth as the resources available for school infrastructure have to be prioritised to meet the needs of areas of significant population increase so as to ensure that every child has a school place.
There are currently a number of active projects at in the Donaghmede_Howth_D13 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, 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.
The pace of delivery of additional residential development in the school planning areas, along with updated enrolment data and demographic data will be kept under review and this will inform the timing of school requirements. 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.
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