Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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652. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the data sources used by her Department 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; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30128/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can assure the Deputy that 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 of mine. 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.

The annual enrolment process for new Junior Infants at primary and new First Years at post-primary is a very large-scale operation that is transacted at close to 4,000 schools across the country, involving some 140,000 pupils. It is important to note that enrolment pressures can be driven by duplication of applications, applications from outside an area, and school of choice factors.

Furthermore, the department has taken a number of steps to help ensure the admissions process for 2025/26 runs smoothly, including improvements to the Post Primary Online Database student registration system to help identify students that have accepted multiple places, writing to parents of sixth class children with advice on the admissions process, and strengthening the data-sharing arrangements with schools in areas of enrolment pressure.

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.

The provision of additional school places can be required in a very small number of areas. This can be facilitated by a range of strategies, some of which may involve additional accommodation but also optimising use of existing capacity.

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.

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.