Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 11 Dec 1990

Vol. 403 No. 8

Written Answers. - Rules for National Schools.

Eamon Gilmore

Question:

181 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Education if she will outline the rule in the Rules for National Schools which allows her to accord provisional recognition only to schools in the Educate Together sector in the first years of their existence and thereby preclude them from getting capital grants; whether any denominational schools, other than Gaelscoileanna, have been accorded provisional recognition since 1987, and if so, the names of those schools.

Minister for Education (Mrs. O'Rourke)

Rule 38 (5) of the Rules for National Schools states, inter alia:

Before any grant is sanctioned towards the cost of building a school, the Minister must be satisfied that there is a need for such a school.

Rule 39 (1) states:

Grants are not sanctioned for the provision in any district of a school which, in the Minister's opinion, is not required to meet the educational needs of the district.

Application for recognition of a multi-denominational school is usually received in respect of an area already catered for by existing schools. Accordingly, on foot of the rules quoted, when the establishment of a multi-denominational school is approved, recognition is granted on a provisional basis in the first instance pending experience of the enrolment at the school. Full recognition is granted in due course, provided the schools have proved themselves to be viable. A similar position obtains in relation to all-Irish schools.

No denominational schools, other than all-Irish schools, have been accorded recognition since 1987.