As the Deputy may be aware, my Department uses a Geographical Information System to identify the areas under increased demographic pressure nationwide. My Department is focused on ensuring that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils living in that area. Some children may not obtain a place in the school of their first choice, where this school is oversubscribed. 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. With this information, my Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises to determine where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and post-primary level. When it is decided that a new school is required to meet demographic needs in an area, my Department runs a separate patronage process to decide who will operate the school. It is open to all patrons and prospective patrons to apply for patronage of the school under this process and the level of parental preference for each patron is key to decisions in relation to the outcome of the process. With regard to the decision on the patronage of the new school which will open this coming September to serve the Drumcondra/Marino/Dublin 1 area, my Department assessed the applications received from the prospective patrons, including examining the parental preferences received in the applications to ensure they represented children living within the school planning area which will be served by this school, and prepared a report for the consideration of the New Schools Establishment Group (NSEG). The NSEG then submitted their report with recommendations to me for consideration and final decision. The patronage assessment report which is published on my Department website, while indicating substantial support for an Irish medium school, reflects nearly twice as many valid preferences for an Educate Together school as a Gaelscoil in this area. I accepted the recommendation of the NSEG and Educate Together, providing multi-denominational education, is the patron of this new school. The NSEG noted the strong level of demand for Irish medium education in the area referred to by the Deputy and recommended that this should be kept under review in the context of ongoing demographic exercises. My officials are keeping the changing demographics in the Drumcondra/Marino/Dublin 1 area under review to take into account updated child benefit data and to take into account the impact of ongoing and planned capacity increases in this and adjacent school planning areas. The demographic data for the 2015/2016 school year showed that there are 712 junior infant children enrolled in the 24 primary schools in the Drumcondra/Marino/Dublin 1 school planning area. For the coming 2016/2017 school year, my Department's demographic projections indicate that this number will increase to 814 junior infant children seeking places, which represents an increase of 102 junior infant children above those enrolled for 2015/2016. My Department has contacted the primary schools in the area seeking confirmation of their September 2016 enrolment numbers and the number of children on any waiting lists they may have. While the 24 schools in the area are generally at capacity in terms of the numbers of classes being accommodated, many of these schools have indicated that they could take additional children into their junior infant class(es) for the coming school year and some have indicated that they are willing to enrol an additional class of junior infant children subject to securing additional accommodation. The Department is continuing to liaise with these schools to ensure that sufficient places are available for the coming school year.
