Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
490. Deputy Ciarán Cannon asked the Minister for Education what measures she is putting in place to address the acute shortage of secondary school places in Athenry town; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56567/23]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, while there can be enrolment pressures and demand for additional school places in some areas, it is important to note sometimes this may not be as a result of lack of accommodation, but may be driven by the following factors:
• Duplication of applications
• School of choice
• Single sex schools
• External draw
Notwithstanding the above, in some areas demographic pressures and other factors are driving a requirement for additional school places.
In response to such previously identified demographic pressures, the Department has delivered new 1,000 pupil school buildings for Presentation College and Clarin College. Additionally, there are projects in the pipeline for a new 450 pupil school building for Coláiste an Eachraidh and an extension to increase provision to 1,500 pupils for Clarin College. The Department continues to engage with Galway Roscommon Education and Training Board, as patron of both of these schools, regarding the planned additional capacity, including any phasing opportunities at Clarin College which may facilitate earlier delivery of additional capacity via the Department’s Modular Accommodation Framework.
The Department is aware of a reduction in available first year places in Athenry for the 2024/25 school year and of consequential pressures for school places. A critical next step for the Department is to establish the actual number of additional first year places required for 2024 in order for an appropriate solution to be put in place. In that context, schools in a number of areas of enrolment pressure, including Athenry, have been requested to share data on applications for admissions. This data has been received by my officials from schools in Athenry and is currently being analysed with a view to establishing the actual requirement for places. Preliminary assessments indicate that duplications of applications, and applications from outside the local area, are very much contributing to enrolment pressures in the town and that the requirement for additional places in Athenry will be significantly lower than anticipated.
The Department is working to clarify the actual requirement for additional school places and to identify particular further capacity requirements for 2024 and forthcoming years. The Department will engage with schools and patrons to put any required solutions in place - beyond those that are already in train - to ensure sufficient school places to meet the needs of students in the area. We will be happy to keep you updated as this work progresses.
