Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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790. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will examine correspondence (details supplied); if an update will issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45004/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Schools admissions policies, including the selection criterion to be used where the school is oversubscribed, must comply with the 2018 Act, be non-discriminatory and be applied fairly in respect of all applicants. A school must accept all applicants unless oversubscribed. All schools must clearly set out their selection criteria in their admission policies. Schools have discretion in relation to their admission criteria and how they are applied. The criteria to be applied by schools and the order of priority are a matter for the schools themselves. The department does not seek to intervene in the selection criterion that is applied by schools.

Where a school is oversubscribed in any particular year, they must compile a waiting list of students whose applications for admission to the intake group were unsuccessful due to the school being oversubscribed. The school must use this list to fill vacancies arising during the school year in question only. The Department wrote to the board of management of the school referred to by the Deputy and received confirmation from the board that their admissions policy complies with the admission act.

The Department sought further clarifications from the school in respect of their policy and waiting list. The school responded advising that there is one waiting list, on which the names of all applicants who did not receive a place in the school are maintained. The school did add that they do have a smaller supplementary waiting list for pupils of a feeder school. The Department will be instructing the school that there should only be one waiting list, constructed in the order priority as dictated by the selection criteria in their admissions policy.