Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 June 2023
275. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education the progress in relation to the advancement of plans for all schools at pre-primary, primary and post-primary level in Maynooth, County Kildare, in time for the new school year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31943/23]
View answerIn order to plan for school place needs, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a Geographical Information System to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including Child Benefit data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity is used for this purpose. Additionally, Project Ireland 2040 population and housing targets inform my Department's projections of school place requirements.
While my Department is aware of enrolment pressures and demand for additional school places in some areas, it is important to note 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 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 they are not available to all pupils
• External draw – pupils coming from outside the local area
My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. In relation to school admissions, it is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998.
Parents have the right to choose which school to apply to and where the school has places available the pupil should be admitted. However, in schools where there are more applicants than places available a selection process may be necessary. This selection process and the enrolment policy on which it is based must be non-discriminatory and must be applied fairly in respect of all applicants. However, this may result in some pupils not obtaining a place in the school of their first choice.
A number of building projects have been completed recently in the Maynooth School Planning Area (SPA) and there are also currently a number of active projects in the SPA which will increase local capacity for the 2023 academic year and future years at primary and post primary level. These include new school building projects recently completed for Maynooth Community College (1,000 pupil school), Maynooth Post-Primary School (1,000 pupil school) and Maynooth Educate Together N.S. (16-classroom school). In addition, further projects are ongoing, including a new school building for Maynooth Boys' N.S (24 classroom school is currently under construction), Gaelscoil Ruairi (the provision of a new 8-classroom school is currently at Stage 2b, detailed design) and a new school building for Gaelcholaiste Maynooth is at Project Brief stage (for a new 350 pupil school).
Furthermore, there is an Additional School Accommodation project for Presentation Primary Girls' School, Maynooth at stage 2A to provide 4 additional mainstream classrooms, 3 Special Education Teaching rooms and reconfiguration works for a special class.
My Department will continue to keep the school place requirements in Maynooth, as with other areas across the country, under review.
Details of large-scale projects being delivered under the school building programme may be viewed on my Department's website at, www.gov.ie and this information is updated regularly. In addition, a list of large-scale projects completed from 2010 to date may also be viewed on the website.
