Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 March 2017
58. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to increase urgently school places in the north fringe region of Dublin Bay North; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10330/17]
View answerFor school planning purposes, the North Fringe Region of Dublin Bay North covers a number of school planning areas including the Donaghmede/Howth/Dublin13 and Darndale/Dublin17 areas in the main but also includes parts of the Beaumont/Coolock/Dublin5 and Portmarnock school planning areas.
These defined school planning areas facilitate the orderly planning of school provision and accommodation needs. My 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 and the Department of Social Protection, in addition to my Department’s own databases. With this information, my Department carries out nationwide demographic analyses at primary and post-primary level to determine where additional school accommodation is needed.
On foot of the last nationwide demographic analyses, the establishment of thirteen new schools was announced, four new primary schools and nine new post-primary schools, to open in 2017 and 2018. As part of this announcement, it was also stated that a range of areas nationwide are experiencing increased demographic pressure and will be kept under review by my Department including the North Fringe Region of Dublin Bay North.
My Department has approved new 16-classroom school buildings for two existing primary schools serving the Belmayne area, St Francis of Assisi National School and Belmayne Educate Together National School, which will shortly be progressed to tender. Additionally, in October 2015, my Department provided a devolved grant to Scoil Bhríde Junior School, Donaghmede to build three new mainstream classrooms and in July 2016, provided a devolved grant to St Kevin’s Junior School to re-configure existing unoccupied rooms to create two mainstream classrooms for September 2016.
A review of capacity in the Darndale/Dublin 17 area indicates existing capacity in Our Lady Immaculate Senior and Junior Schools as enrolments have fallen in both schools over the past 5 years.
My Department is not aware of any issues regarding capacity in the area as no other applications for additional accommodation have been received from the schools serving the area.
