Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 October 2021
141. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Education her engagements with the teaching unions and parents in relation to the shortage of school places in areas such as Dundalk, County Louth acknowledging the challenges this has on families at an already stressful time of year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51606/21]
View answerMy Department is aware of increasing pressures and demand for school places in a number of school planning areas including the school planning area to which the Deputy refers.
Where capacity issues arise it may not be as a result of lack of accommodation but may be driven by the following factors:
- Duplication of applications – pupils have applied for a place to a number of schools in the area
- School of choice – pupils can’t get a place in their preferred school while there are places in other schools in the town/area
- Some towns/areas have single sex schools and while places are available in the school there are not available to all pupils
- External draw – pupils coming from outside the local area
The true extent of any capacity issue is the subject of my Department's ongoing engagement with the relevant school authorities. Similar to last year, my Department is engaging further with patron bodies, including patrons in the school planning area in question, to identify particular capacity requirements for the forthcoming year(s) which may necessitate action including, where required, the provision of modular accommodation solutions.
My Department’s school building programme has a large pipeline of projects under its Large Scale Capital Programme and Additional Accommodation Scheme to cater for current and future educational demands. There are a number of such projects in Dundalk, including significant extension projects at St. Francis NS and St. Oliver Plunkett's NS. Good progress continues to be made with the rollout of projects and the current status of all projects is listed on a county by county basis on my Department’s website at www.education.ie.
