Gary Gannon
Question:465. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education if she will provide a breakdown of capacity within schools around the country by county. [17681/22]
View answerTuesday, 5 April 2022
Questions (465)
Written answers
The question of enrolment in individual schools is the responsibility of the managerial authority of those schools. It is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act 1998 and the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018. The enrolment policy of individual schools takes account of the school's own assessment of school capacity which is influenced by each school's own characteristics.
The Department has data on potential capacity and under/over subscription at individual schools from its National Inventory of School Capacity based on schools’ annual enrolment returns, and utilises its Geographic Information System to facilitate spatial analysis of this and other data. On a national level, total primary enrolments peaked in 2018 and have been reducing since. The net overall reduction in primary enrolments by 2022/23 was projected to be in the order of 25,000 pupils. At post-primary level, demographics are generally continuing on an upward trend.
Nevertheless, at both primary and post-primary level there are significant variances in available capacity at local and regional level across the country, in both rural and urban areas.
I would also advise the Deputy that where enrolment pressures 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 cannot 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 they are not available to all pupils
- External draw – pupils coming from outside the local area
My Department proactively engages with relevant school authorities to establish the true extent of enrolment pressures. Similar to the process adopted in advance of the current academic year, my Department is engaging with patron bodies to identify particular capacity requirements for the forthcoming years which may necessitate further action to that already in train.