Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 April 2016
116. Deputy Jack Chambers asked the Minister for Education and Skills is she will confirm that there are sufficient school places for entry to primary schools in the Carpenterstown area of Dublin 15 to meet current demographic demand; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7980/16]
View answerMy Department uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to identify where the pressure for school places will arise. The GIS uses data from the Central Statistics Office, Ordnance Survey Ireland, the Department of Social Protection and information from my Department's own databases.
The outcome of the latest demographic exercises, based on the GIS, is that on 17th November 2015, I announced the establishment of 13 new schools to open in 2017 and 2018 to cater for demographic needs.
As part of this announcement I noted that a number of areas nationwide are experiencing increased demographic pressures and the Department will keep the demographic data under ongoing review. For the Carpenterstown, Dublin 15 school planning area, this review will take account of updated enrolment and child benefit data and also the impact of capacity increases in adjacent school planning areas.
