Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 November 2024
113. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Education if she will meet with the committee of a school (details supplied) who are deeply concerned about the potential sale of Department of Education land to a private developer; the plans her Department have for providing a secondary school in Newcastle; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45498/24]
View answerI can confirm that the Department of Education is in discussions with a developer on a potential disposal of the lands to the rear of the St. Finian's National School for the development of a public park and housing. I want to assure the Newcastle Secondary School Committee that some lands will be retained for the benefit of St. Finian's National School.
The sustainable development plan of a settlement area and the planned use of the available development land is set out in County and Local Area Development Plans.
The land to the south St. Finian's National School is zoned to provide for new residential communities in the South Dublin County Development Plan 2022-2028. There is also a Specific Local Objective (SLO) on these lands to identify and set aside land for a Public Park.
The site in the Minister's ownership, adjacent to St. Finian’s National School, extends to 2.1 Hectares (5.2 acres).
My department has published guidelines to assist in the identification and the assessment for suitability of new sites for schools where the procurement of a new site is required. The relevant guidelines are TGD-025 for primary school site identification and TGD-027 for post primary site identification. All technical guidelines are available on the gov.ie website at www.gov.ie/en/publication/7e515-technical-guidance-documents/ .
The recommended site area, outlined in these guidelines, for a 750 pupil post primary school is 3.81 Hectares and 4.57 Hectares for a 1,000 pupil post primary school.
There are no plans to develop a post primary school on this site.
The future demand for school places in an area is directly linked to the number of existing and planned residential units. This department works closely with Local Authorities to ensure sufficient lands are zoned for educational use to meet the projected demand. To that end, a specific objective to provide school facilities has been provided on lands within the Newcastle development area in the South Dublin County Development Plan 2022-2028. These lands are adjacent to a large public park and public play facilities.
Any agreement to transfer lands for the development of housing and public park will include providing access to these specific lands for the development of the required school facilities.
The current negotiations include the transfer of land in the Newcastle area to the department for educational use. The purpose of these negotiations is to facilitate the development of Newcastle in a sustainable manner in keeping with the existing County & Local Development Plans.
In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, the department divides the country into 314 school planning areas (SPA) and uses a geographical information system, using data from a range of sources, including CSO census data, child benefit and school enrolment data, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise and where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and post-primary level.
Major new residential developments have the potential to alter the demand for school places at a local level. In that regard, as part of the demographic demand analysis, the department monitors planning and construction activity in the residential sector. This involves the analysis of data sources from local authorities and the CSO along with the engagement with local authorities and the construction sector. In this way, up-to-date information on significant new residential developments is obtained and factored into the demographic analysis exercise. This is necessary to ensure that schools infrastructure planning is keeping pace with demographic changes, at a local level, where there is a constantly evolving picture with planned new residential development.
Where demographic data indicates that additional provision is required, the delivery of such additional provision is dependent on the circumstances of each case and may be provided through:
• Utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools,
• Extending the capacity of a school or schools,
• Provision of a new school or schools.
If additional accommodation is required, the aim to try and facilitate this, as much as possible, by way of expansion of existing schools rather than establishing new schools. The expansion of existing schools is consistent with wider Government objectives under Project Ireland 2040 for an increased emphasis on compact growth. In respect of post primary schools, new post primary schools must have a student enrolment capacity of 600-1,000 students and must be co-educational. A lower threshold of 400 students may apply to gaelcholáistí, having regard to the alternative of establishing an Irish-medium unit (aonad) in an English-medium school.
New schools are only established in areas of demographic growth as the resources available for school infrastructure must be prioritised to meet the needs of areas of significant population increase to ensure that every child has a school place.
There is currently less than 500 post primary school pupils living in the Newcastle urban area. These pupils attend school in Rathcoole, Lucan & City West, where school capacity has been provided to accommodate them.
For school planning purposes Newcastle is located in the Newcastle_Rathcoole school planning area. Based on a zero-migration scenario the demand for post primary school places in the SPA is projected to peak in 2028 and reduce thereafter.
The impact of new residential developments is under review with South Dublin County Council.
There are two post-primary projects in the school building programme in the school planning area, providing additional capacity. These will, when completed, cater for demand for school places in the area:
The school building project for Colaiste Pobail Fola is being delivered under the department’s Design and Build Programme as a campus project and will deliver a new 1,000 pupil post-primary school and accommodation, including 4 classrooms, for children with special educational needs and a new 16 classroom primary school and accommodation, including 2 classrooms, for children with special educational needs on the ETB-owned site at Fortunestown Lane. Letter of Acceptance (LOA) issued to the successful contractor on 28th of June 2024, which allowed the contractor to mobilise to site. The works on site are progressing and the project is being delivered on a phased basis.
The project for Holy Family CS is at Architectural Planning Stage 4 – Construction. Works commenced on site in August 2024 with an estimated contract duration of 36 months.
The department will continue to liaise with local authorities in respect of their county development plan and any associated local area plans with a view to identifying any potential long-term school accommodation requirements across school planning areas.
