Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 November 2020
108. Deputy Steven Matthews asked the Minister for Education the number of primary and secondary school places in Greystones, County Wicklow; and the projections as to potential demand for places in the coming years. [37334/20]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, in order to plan for school provision my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a Geographical Information System, using data from a range of sources, to identify where a demand for additional school places will arise.
Included in the data analysed is Child Benefit data and, for the purpose of post primary school place projections, current enrolments in primary schools in the relevant school planning area(s). Also considered is information provided by local authorities in respect of residential development activity in each area, in order to anticipate emerging school place requirements from any planned additional population.
Where data indicates that additional provision is required at primary or post primary level, the delivery of such additional provision is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may, depending on the circumstances, be provided through either one, or a combination of, the following:
- Utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools,
- Extending the capacity of a school or schools,
- Provision of a new school or school
Since April 2018 the Government has announced 47 new schools to be established over the period 2019-2022 including a new 1000 pupil post primary school in 2020 as a regional solution to serve the Kilcoole and Greystones school planning areas. The requirement for additional school places is kept under on-going review and work on an updated exercise to assess needs for the coming years, including those which may arise in the Greystones area is currently at an advanced stage.
Enrolment information for the 2020 school year is not yet available. However details of the enrolments for 2019 are available on my Department's website www.education.ie.
