Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 July 2022
555. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Education the number of refugee children enrolled in Irish primary and secondary schools per school year and per county in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37700/22]
View answerIn Ireland, all immigrant children, including children of international protection applicants, immigrant workers and unaccompanied minors, can access pre-school, primary and post primary education in a manner similar to Irish nationals, until they have reached the age of 18 years.
In Ireland, a school must admit all students applying where it is not oversubscribed and places are available. Schools must also include an admission statement in its admission policy stating that the school will not discriminate in its admission on any of nine specified grounds, including race and religion.
Tusla Education Support Services (TESS) works with the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) and the International Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) to ensure that children of families seeking international protection can be enrolled in school as soon as possible following their arrival.
The Department of Education’s electronic databases, POD (Primary Online Database) and PPOD (Post-primary Online Database), hold data on all primary and post-primary school pupils, including their name, address, PPSN, date of birth and nationality. The databases also contain, on an optional basis, information on ethnic or cultural background. The databases do not record whether a student is a refugee or a beneficiary of the Temporary Protection Directive.
Given the significant number of people arriving into Ireland from Ukraine since the Russian invasion, the Department of Education has prepared statistics on the number of Ukrainian students who have enrolled in our schools in that time, based upon the nationality data recorded in the databases. A link to this information is available as follows:
www.gov.ie/en/press-release/0b645-department-of-education-confirms-7285-ukrainian-pupils-currently-enrolled-in-irish-schools/.
