Vol. 297 No. 8
I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I note he was in the Dáil Chamber and was supposed to be relieved of his duties there but his replacement did not show up. He is irreplaceable in any event.
The first Commencement matter has been tabled by our birthday girl, Senator Lynn Boylan. Happy birthday, Senator.
I thank the Leas-Cathaoirleach. Given that it is UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, I raise an issue related to the Israel-Palestine conflict that has been overshadowed. Like all conflicts, there is always a material aspect to the war. For decades, Israel has exploited Palestinian natural resources in contravention of international law. A recent study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development points out that new discoveries of natural gas in the Levant Basin are in the region of 122 trillion cu. ft, while recoverable oil is estimated at 1.7 billion barrels. In light of the significant fossil fuel reserve under Palestinian territory, I wish to raise concerns about the control of these resources with the Minister of State. Those reserves should be used for the benefit of the Palestinian people. However, the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territory since 1967 and the blockade of the Gaza Strip since 2007 have prevented the Palestinian people from exercising any control over their own fossil fuel resources. I fear those resources will be exploited for the benefit of others.
What is worse is that the EU now seems to be complicit in facilitating the Israeli Government in appropriating those resources. The EU’s involvement, and therefore Ireland’s involvement, stems from the memorandum of understanding between the EU, the State of Israel and the Arab Republic of Egypt, which was signed in June 2022 in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The three parties thrashed out a deal to help ensure Europe’s energy security. The memorandum of understanding outlines that the three sides will endeavour to work collectively towards enabling a stable delivery of natural gas to the EU.
What is deeply troubling though is that in the memorandum, for the first time in approximately ten years, the EU has agreed a deal like this with Israel without any clause excluding the occupied Palestinian land. The long-standing Irish and EU policy is that all agreements with Israel should be explicitly inapplicable to territories occupied by Israel in 1967. The 2012 European Council's meeting on foreign affairs restated this policy position. It stated:
The EU reiterates that it will not recognise any changes to the pre-1967 borders ... The European Union expresses its commitment to ensure that - in line with international law - all agreements between the State of Israel and the European Union must unequivocally and explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, namely the Golan Heights, the West Bank including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
The memorandum of understanding contravenes UN policy as set out in the UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which underlines that it “will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations” and calls upon all states, bearing in mind paragraph 1 of the resolution, “to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.”
It is a troubling development that there is no mention of the clause on the occupied territories in the memorandum of understanding signed last year. It forces us to question what length the EU will go to ensure energy security. Why has there been this change in policy? Why has any reference to the occupied territories been excluded? It begs the question as to whether this could be feeding into the reasons the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill has been left languishing in the Dáil and will not be passed, given that the EU now seems to be ignoring its own policy of excluding the occupied territories.
The memorandum of understanding, MOU, the Senator refers to covers co-operation on trade, transport and the export of gas to the European Union. The MOU is not an Irish MOU but rather it is between the EU, the State of Israel and the Arab Republic of Egypt. The MOU was signed at the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, of which Ireland is not a member and at which the EU is an observer.
High Representative and Vice-President Borrell Fontelles, on behalf of the European Commission, advised, in response to a parliamentary question, that the memorandum of understanding signed on 15 June 2022 is of a non-binding nature. Although the MOU is non-binding, according to Vice-President Borrell, the EU is strictly prohibited in the implementation of a non-binding instrument from acting in a way that would amount to recognising the illegal Israeli occupation.
As in all European Commission negotiations, consultation with member states is done via the normal EU institutional communication channels.
My Department has policy responsibility for Ireland's energy security, and communicates views in this policy area. Wider foreign policy considerations are led by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, including communicating such with the European Commission.
The memorandum of understanding was signed a few months after Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, and it aligns with the EU's objective of identifying alternative sources to Russian gas. Russian gas now represents less than 10% of EU gas, compared with over 40% before the Russian invasion. Identifying alternatives to Russian gas was one element of a wider package of measures in the EU, for example, measures to demand reduction and increase the EU storage levels of natural gas.
Ireland imports four fifths of the natural gas that is uses from the UK, with the remaining fifth being supplied by the Corrib gas field. The EU has a diverse supply of natural gas, including UK indigenous pipeline gas, Norway indigenous pipeline gas, LNG, UK gas storage and gas interconnectors that the UK has with Belgium and the Netherlands. Gas supplies are expected to flow normally this winter. The UK and Ireland are not reliant on Russian gas.
A memorandum of understanding was also signed on 11 September 2023 by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, with his counterpart, Claire Couthinho, the UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. This memorandum of understanding, on co-operation for natural gas security of supply, strengthens established practices and co-operation between the two States and relevant Departments on the security of natural gas supply. It outlines how the two States will work together in the event of a reduction or a disruption of supply.
The Energy Security in Ireland to 2030 report, its supporting annexes and work programme of 28 actions was agreed by Government and published on 14 November. It outlines a new strategy to ensure energy security in Ireland for this decade, while ensuring a sustainable transition to a carbon-neutral energy system by 2050. This landmark report, which is informed by comprehensive review and analysis, concludes that Ireland's future energy will be secure by moving from a fossil fuel-based energy system to an electricity-led system, maximising our renewal electricity potential, flexibility and being integrated into Europe's energy systems.
With regard to natural gas, the report concludes that while gas supplies and infrastructure are adequate to meet our demand projections, there are risks in the event of disruption to infrastructure. To reduce reliance on gas imports, we need to reduce natural gas demand and to develop renewable indigenous gas supply and renewable gas-compatible storage. As a transitional measure, we will introduce a strategic gas emergency reserve to address security needs in the medium term, to used only if disruption to gas supplies occurs. This will be examined by Gas Networks Ireland and the Minister, Deputy Ryan, will return to Government with a detailed proposal in 2024.
I thank Senator Boylan for raising this important matter and look forward to hearing the views of the Seanad.
I welcome the recent energy security report and the findings that a non-commercial LNG terminal, and not a commercial one, will be the way to go. I have stated that in this House previously.
The Minister of State mentioned that the memorandum of understanding is an EU memorandum of understanding and not an Irish one. We all know that because we are a member state, EU policy dictates the view or perception of where Ireland's position is. We have seen that with the Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, going out to Israel, and the damage that did to cohesion within the EU because she took a position that was contrary to that of the majority of member states. Has the Tánaiste raised the exclusion of the reference to the occupied territories with the European Commission? Has the Government expressed any concerns as to why suddenly now the clause is absent? Even if it is non-binding, there has to be a reason that clause was not included in the memorandum of understanding.
My answer concentrated on energy security because that is what my Department is responsible for. The person who is best placed to answer questions about foreign affairs policy is the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs. I am sure he would be happy to answer the Senator's question. My understanding, however, is that there has been no change of policy. On the question of agreements between the EU and Israel, all those agreements should include a clause that explicitly excludes the territory that was occupied by Israel in 1967. That is the policy of the EU and of Ireland. In this particular case, I understand that the memorandum of understanding is non-binding. I do not know if that is relevant. The right person to ask about the foreign policy is the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I want to raise with the Minister for further and higher education the issue of the student contribution fee, and the reduction announced in the budget that reduces that fee by €1,000 for all students going to higher education and third level college. That was really welcome. It was a huge easing of a burden on students and their families at a time when cost-of-living pressures are very significant. Students really feel that intently when they are trying to do their studies.
I think an anomaly has popped up in the system that I am sure was not the intention of the Minister. I am asking that he reflects on and tries to address the matter in respect of students attending Marino Institute of Education. The difficulty there is that the Bachelor of Science in Education Studies and the Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education are not covered. Those students will not receive the €1,000 reduction in their fees, while in the same higher education institute, students doing the Bachelor of Education and the Bachelor of Education Through the Medium of Irish will receive the €1,000 reduction. It appears to be an anomaly. I am sure the Minister will tell me that the institute is a private college and that it is not the same as some other third level institutions. While that might be the case, it might be more acceptable were it not for the fact that there are courses taking place in that college where students receive the €1,000 reduction and other students in the same building do not. There is a level of unfairness to it that is undoing a lot of good work that was done by Government in giving that amount of money.
In Government terms, €1,000 out of the education budget is quite minor, but what it means to a student going to college for the year is the difference in paying rent for a few months, buying food, paying for transport and just being able to afford to go to college. The students, understandably, are very frustrated by this, as are their teachers and lecturers. Last year, the college gave a once-off bursary to students who were unable to avail of grants, but it is just not in a position to repeat that and it had hoped that the Minister would include the students on those two courses, the Bachelor of Science in Education Studies and the Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education.
I appeal to the Minister of State to ask the Minister for further and higher education, Deputy Harris, to look at this really small number of students in the grand scheme of things, and to think about the intention of this Government policy and what we were trying to do in the first place. We were trying to assist students with the cost of going to college, paying for fees, accommodation, food, transport and all of the things, and to help families. It was part of a wider cost-of-living package in the budget. As a Government, we are very proud of our cost-of-living measures and the package that we put together. In excess of €2 billion was put into those measures to assist families right across the country. I would be disappointed to see a good news story and a really good initiative and policy from the Minister, Deputy Harris, be tainted by this really small anomaly that is affecting a small number of students.
As I said, the teachers are fielding questions from students as to why they are not getting the fee reduction. There was an expectation that they would get it, so in some ways, as I am sure the Minister of State will appreciate, the money was nearly spent in their heads as to what it was going to go on in terms of costs for the year. To not get it, and to be heading into college knowing that other students and friends doing other courses in the same building are receiving it, is difficult. I appeal for sense and practicality and an air of logic to be brought to this. It is a very solvable problem. This is not permanent spending. It is not a huge amount of money, but it would mean a lot to those students and their families.
I also want to mention on the record the work of Councillor Frankie Keena, who has been working very closely with the college and the students. He brought this issue to me. He has shown me some of the distressing messages that he is getting from students. They would very much appreciate a positive answer and that every effort would be made to include them.
I thank the Senator for raising the issue. I am answering on behalf of my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Harris, who of course has gone to great lengths to reduce the cost of further and higher education for students.
The Senator will be aware that budget 2024 contains a package of measures to support households with the cost of living. These cost-of-living measures include a €1,000 reduction in the student contribution fee for those higher education students who are eligible for the free fees initiative. Under the free fees initiative, the State provides funding toward the tuition fee of eligible undergraduate higher education students. Through the free fees initiative, the State has assumed responsibility for compensating institutions for the income previously generated by student tuition fees. This payment is exclusive of the student contribution.
Free fees eligibility is restricted to full-time undergraduate courses in public higher education institutions in the State. However, there are a limited number of designated courses in private, not-for-profit institutions that attract free fees funding. Marino Institute of Education is a private institution but it has charitable status under the co-trusteeship of the European province of the Congregation of Christian Brothers and Trinity College Dublin. Higher education courses delivered in Marino Institute of Education are accredited by Trinity College Dublin under arrangements that date to the 1970s. The college is funded for approved initial teacher education programmes by the Department of Education, which has an oversight agreement in place with Marino Institute of Education.
The Department of Education continues to have responsibility for initial teacher education policy. The funding provided by the State in the academic year 2023-24 is for two free fees-eligible courses. Students on those courses are eligible for the student contribution reduction of €1,000 in the 2023-24 academic year. Outside those two courses, the State does not provide support and therefore cannot benefit from the €1,000 free fees reduction.
I thank the Minister of State. I had anticipated that might be his response. I have probably addressed some of the matters he raised. I am aware of the structure of the free fees initiative and that the two courses I mentioned do not come under that. However, I refer to the practical reality on the ground. I think the Minister's intent when introducing this policy was to help students going to college. Marino Institute already reduced the fees of those courses, including the bachelor of science in early childhood education and the bachelor of science in education studies, to bring them in line with the other courses, keep students on a par and ensure equity. The Department of further and higher education is not meeting the college halfway on this.
I ask the Minister of State to take this back. I have discussed it with Councillor Frankie Keena, who, as I said, is on the ground and talking to students. This is a really sore point. It will be a missed opportunity if the Government does not address this. A small number of students are affected. We have to look to the true intent behind the policy as opposed to getting tied up in bureaucracy and which way the courses are set up. At the end of the day, they are all students and all have the same costs.
I thank the Senator. I understand the feeling that the students must have that this is something they were counting on, and that some courses are funded and some are not. It is open to Marino Institute of Education, as a private, independent institution, to reduce the fees in line with the Government decision, but the budget decision agreed by all parties was for the €1,000 fee to be applied only to courses where the State has a relationship through the free fees initiative. However, I understand that the Minister, Deputy Harris, is willing to engage with Marino Institute. I understand he has agreed to meet it shortly to discuss this matter. I thank the Senator for affording me the opportunity to respond to the House.
I welcome the Minister of State to the House to take these Commencement matters. I know this is not a matter directly related to his Ministry but it relates to the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, who is our Minister for arts, culture and media. The matter is to ask the Minister for arts, culture and media to make a statement on her new funding proposals for newspapers, local radio stations and other radio stations, for that matter, to facilitate the coverage of local authorities and the Courts Service. Access to information and communication about both is critically important, particularly in the regions and in local communities. New media funding is expected to support the reporting of the courts and the local authorities. The Minister has indicated that, while it may be on an interim basis, newspapers and radio stations are set to receive this new funding to facilitate coverage of the courts, local authorities and their activities. That is an initiative which I welcome and support. I know the Minister is fully committed to it.
I recognise and support the significant contribution of local media outlets, whether local radio or other local, provincial and regional media, which are also important. We benefit in these Houses, with our magnificent Library beneath this Chamber, where all the provincial, local and regional papers come in every week. We currently have an opportunity to read and study them. Long may that continue. This medium of communication, whether local radio or local newspapers, is important because it communicates facts and engages people in political, social and economic life, which is important at a time of misinformation and disinformation. We rely heavily on the strong level of integrity of most of the brands of our media in this country. We are fortunate and need to recognise that as being the case. Local media are important. They are a conduit for connecting our citizens and community. It is a matter of knowledge and power, as the Minister of State and I know.
When the Minister, Deputy Martin, was in New York, she confirmed that funding for this initiative could come next year on an interim basis before a new long-term strategy for RTÉ and other entities in public service media comes into effect. I understand the Government decided last year, pending an analysis of the alternatives, not to accept the key recommendation of the Future of Media Commission that public service media should be funded from central Exchequer funds rather than the current system of TV licensing. I also note that the Minister said that all options should still be kept on the table because she wants to explore all options and circumstances. The Future of Media Commission made six recommendations about schemes, such as court reporting and the local democracy and digital transformation that could be supported by this new media fund.
I commend the Minister, the Minister of State and the Government on the engagement with the industry about local democracy and court reporting as a starting point. That should proceed as quickly as possible. I also commend the Minister, Deputy Martin, on securing the €6 million in funding in the budget to get the scheme under way. Unfortunately, a new, long-term, sustainable funding model ultimately needs to be put in place to support media coverage and its independence.
Representatives of NewsBrands Ireland came to the House and met Members in the audiovisual room recently. They made a strong case for support of the media, particularly local media, but also regional and provincial media. I informed NewsBrands that this Commencement matter was being taken and I understand the company is listening in today. We need to continue to build strong relationships with the media. They are not all about making money. The media have an important role in communicating facts, as I said, at a time when there is much misinformation and disinformation. If we do not support our local media outlets, they will suffer and we will lose them. That would be terrible in a democracy like ours.
I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this matter. Print media and radio play an essential role in sharing reliable and relevant news and bringing communities together. The wider media sector in Ireland, which is a vital element of our democracy and society as a whole, is undergoing fundamental change. This is in part due to the increased digitalisation of news and media content generally and the associated decline in advertising revenue as a consequence.
The report of the Future of Media Commission examined the challenges facing the media sector, including print and radio, and the consequent impact on the provision of public service content. The report made a number of recommendations to counter these challenges and support the provision of public service content. The report of the Future of Media Commission was considered by Government in July last year. The Government decided to accept 49 of 50 of its recommendations.
One recommendation made by the Future of Media Commission was for the establishment of a new media fund to provide support for the provision of public service content by the wider media and journalism sector at local, regional and national levels, on a platform neutral basis. The media fund is being established on an administrative basis, with the local democracy and courts reporting schemes being prioritised for implementation by Coimisiún na Meán, with €6 million allocated in budget 2024 for this purpose. The local democracy reporting and courts reporting schemes will operate as contestable award schemes on a platform neutral basis, under which Coimisiún na Meán will award successful applicants with funding to support the production of public service content over a fixed period through the deployment of additional journalistic resources.
The core focus of the local democracy reporting scheme will be to provide comprehensive coverage of the proceedings of local authorities and associated committees. In addition, it is intended that local democracy reporters will carry out other tasks outside of providing reports of meetings, including reporting on the functions and activities of local authorities, reviewing publications and records to identify stories of public interest, and to report on other matters relevant to local democracy which are in the public interest.
The overall purpose of the courts reporting scheme will be to fund comprehensive, professional and publicly accessible reports of court proceedings at a District Court and Circuit Court level.
The fewer cases that are reported, the less aware the public is of the rule of law and the less informed they are as to whether the administration of justice is functioning as it should be.
Given the high-level design of both schemes, it is considered that they may constitute state aid to economic operators in the news and current affairs market. Accordingly, the schemes may require a full state aid notification to, and the approval of, the European Commission. The pre-notification form for the media fund schemes was received by the European Commission on 6 September 2023. It is expected that the pre-notification process will take a number of months, following which a formal state aid notification, if required, will be submitted to the European Commission. Following state aid approval, Coimisiún na Meán will be in a position to implement the schemes.
Officials in the Department of the Minister, Deputy Martin, have consulted extensively with members of the Future of Media Commission stakeholder consultative forum, which includes representatives from across the media sector, throughout the year as part of the high-level policy development process for the schemes. Officials will continue to engage with these members and, indeed, with all stakeholders to keep them informed of developments on this matter.
The detailed design of the schemes, based on the high-level policy principles developed by the Department of the Minister, Deputy Martin, is currently being undertaken by Coimisiún na Meán.
Subject to state aid approval, it is expected that the schemes will begin in 2024. The Department continues to engage with Coimisiún na Meán on the matter, and it is expected that Coimisiún na Meán will progress further stakeholder consultation on the detailed design of the schemes in early 2024.
I thank the Minister of State for that detailed response to the Commencement matter. The Minister of State touched on the application being made to the European Commission to review the scheme under the state aid rules. Clearly, that has delayed the establishment of the schemes. I received correspondence from the chief executive of Newsbrand Ireland, Ann Marie Lenihan, flagging this issue and other issues.
I would like the Minister of State to convey my thanks to the Minister, Deputy Martin, in respect of these matters. I ask him to keep us informed. I would like to be kept informed - he might note this - particularly on progress to see this through. It is really important. I welcome the initiative that the courts and local authorities would at least start to see some of this funding put in place because that is a start. We have to keep cutting into this and making progress. The Minister of State might keep the Houses informed. Certainly, I would like to be kept informed, and I formally make that request, on progress in establishing the schemes and the issues around any European Commission state aid difficulties there may be.
The principle is that justice should be seen to be done. Sometimes judges refer to the media as the eyes and ears of the court. It is important that what happens in a court is reported. If it is a local issue, it may not be reported nationally, so we may have no visibility of what is going on in our justice system. It is a part of our justice system and, equally, it is important that what happens in a democracy is reported. Again, local democracy may not receive an airing in the national media, so we may have a situation where decisions are made democratically without any input or coverage from the press if the local media have withered away because of the influence of the Internet and so on. That is the goal - to preserve local media. They help to strengthen communities and allow people to see what is going on in their justice and democratic system.
These two schemes that are seeking state aid approval are not the only supports from the Government for local media. The fact that VAT was cut from 9% to 0% has been very beneficial to local newspapers. I am sure they appreciate that. The radio sector continues to be supported on an ongoing basis through the sound and vision scheme administered by Coimisiún na Meán. I understand as well that local newspapers and radio stations are sometimes overlooked in Government advertising campaigns. It is important that if public information is being put out through the national media, the local newspapers are not forgotten in that and the media-buying part of public information campaigns includes local media in order that we can reach people. Not everybody buys a national broadsheet paper or watches the TV news. It is important that we reach everybody around the country and that we are fair in our media buying.
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth. This Commencement matter is for the attention of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, and it relates to providing an update on school capacity reviews in County Galway, including Ballinasloe. It is crucial that we provide an update on school capacity across the country because this is the data the Department of Education uses to identify whether school places are needed for children or whether we need new schools or new classrooms. That is the system that is used, and the Minister of State would be very familiar, I think, with geographical information systems in any case, given his background. It is crucial that we see these capacity reviews completed at an early stage. They are done only once a year. I would have queries as to why this cannot be a live document and a live update, with schools coming back with data on an ongoing basis. Surely that could be managed. Currently, it is a point in time, once a year, when schools are requested to complete a survey from the Department of Education. They indicate their capacity. That is then uploaded onto this geographical information system, ArcGIS, which is the system that is used.
My question is on the current status of the updates to that system is for County Galway, in particular in Ballinasloe. This is used along with school planning areas, which the Minister of State spoke about, across the country. We have 315 or 316 areas, from what I understand, and the schools then look at capacity in these areas. There are, however, lots of crisis areas in the country at the moment when it comes to primary school places, and we need to see how this data can be used at an early stage, now, in order that we can then plan for the budget, whether it is school transport, additional classes or a new school. Is it needed now for September? We should work with the teams in the Department of Education to do that because the only options we have are to try to look at existing capacity within a school, deliver new classrooms or look at a new school. Those are the three options we have in front of us.
This system is also used by the regional education and language teams, REALTs, in the education and training boards, ETBs, to identify school places for children of families coming from abroad, from many countries, including Ukraine, who come to Ireland, who need refuge and who set up here. They cannot find space, and it is a challenge to get space in schools. I am speaking specifically about the Ballinasloe area. The Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion, Deputy Madigan, only recently visited Ballinasloe. I have worked hard on projects over the past year where we had two classrooms open up in Creagh National School, a school of nearly 440 students. That is at capacity. The children were outside of the school trying to use every available space before they could move into these school classrooms. The same goes for St. Teresa's Special School. It was really good to see the new special classes opening up in Ardscoil Mhuire and Corbally college as well.
There are huge issues, however. We have over 1,000 children at primary school level and another 1,000 students at post-primary level. These children are struggling in terms of young families moving to the town and finding a place for their children. We have allocation of over 100 new housing units in Ballinasloe, which is wonderful. We will have families moving into new homes, local authority housing in Ballinasloe. Those families will have a lot of demands. By the nature of this, they will have more demands in probably having younger families. They will also have more demands when it comes to GP visit cards because, as regards the median income now, people are being allocated these GP cards.
When we look at Ballinasloe and the Pobal deprivation index and the level of deprivation, we see that there are areas in Ballinasloe that are -55 on the index. What is the plan of the Department of Education for children to go to schools? We have a DEIS level 1 school in Ballinasloe that caters for the whole county of Galway and the surrounding counties: Westmeath, Roscommon, Offaly and north Tipperary. When families do not have the transport to get children from the town 5 km out to a smaller school outside it, will we have school transport in place? Will a new school be put in place? I have spoken to three principals of those schools, including a Gaelscoil, which can cater to so many children, but, again, there are challenges when it comes to English as an additional language, EAL, supports. Also, will we have challenges when we have no space to put in additional classrooms?
I am taking this question on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, who is out of the country. I thank the Senator for raising the matter as it provides me with an opportunity to outline the position on school capacity reviews in County Galway, including Ballinasloe, and the use of the ArcGIS system to assist the REALTs in their work of sourcing school places.
As the Senator will be aware, regional educational and language teams, REALTs, were established as part of the Department of Education's response to the humanitarian crisis arising from the war in Ukraine. Part of the REALTs' role was to assist in finding school places for Ukrainian children. This was subsequently extended to providing for international protection applicants seeking school placement. Over 17,500 Ukrainian students have been enrolled in our schools to date.
This is a testament to the fantastic work done across school communities and by REALT. Critical to this success has been the use of existing school capacity and the Department of Education has worked closely with the REALT to support and co-ordinate a strategic approach in this respect. As part of this strategic response, data available to the Department on school capacity was provided to the REALT. The Department further supplemented the data with additional information collected from schools via online surveys. Ultimately, the capacity of a school is a matter for that school's board of management and patron, taking into account specific circumstances. At post-primary level, capacity is particularly complex as class groupings, subject options, and timetabling are all relevant. However, there are certain indicators of capacity which are useful in identifying a school's likely ability to facilitate additional enrolments and such indicators include data on current and historic enrolments; reported available classrooms; information regarding current or recent school building projects; and schools' self-reported capacity to enroll additional students in certain class or year groups. The most recent information currently available relates to the 2022-2023 school year and the Department of Education will be refreshing this over the coming months, including as the recent 2022-2024 enrolment returns are finalised.
The Senator will appreciate that, while specific capacity at schools is fluid and can have certain complexities and nuances, in combination, the available indicators of capacity give a good sense of school-place pressures in an area. From the information provided by schools and the Department earlier in the year, there appear to be available school places and classrooms at primary level generally across County Galway, including at schools in Ballinasloe town and across the Ballinasloe school planning area. Capacity at post-primary level is more constrained as it is generally across the country in the context of peaking post-primary demographics. A strategic and co-ordinated approach to managing enrolments and maximising existing capacity, both at individual school level and across a town or area, is important to ensure school accommodation capacity is used in the most effective way. The Department continues to monitor school place requirements across the country, including in Ballinasloe and in the wider county. It undertakes demographic exercises and analyses residential development activity in order to anticipate school place requirements in the future. It also engages closely with school authorities and patrons to identify and resolve any school place pressures. This collaboration with patrons will be informed by data on schools' applications for admission.
As the Senator may be aware, the admission process for many primary schools will be starting in the first quarter of next year, which means that engagement will be ongoing over the coming months. The Department is currently progressing a number of building projects in Ballinasloe under the national development plan. The most significant project for planned additional capacity is a new 16-classroom school building for Scoil an Chroí Naofa, which will also provide three classrooms for pupils with special educational needs. This project is currently at stage 2B and has recently received a grant of planning permission. The Department is also engaging with the patrons of Ardscoil Mhuire and St. Joseph's College in Ballinasloe regarding their proposed amalgamation and with a view to considering their overall accommodation needs. However, I would underline that ensuring sufficient school capacity is, and will continue to be, a priority for the Department. The school place needs in Ballinasloe and across County Galway, as with all other areas, will continue to be kept under review for the 2024, 2025, and subsequent school years.
I thank the Minister of State for his response but it does not answer the question around when the school capacity review will be completed. The school returns are one aspect of the information that is gathered by the Department of Education. A school capacity review is a separate review and that is the information, along with other data sources, that we use when we are trying to identify school places and school capacity. It is frustrating. We are going to have more than 100 new families moving into Ballinasloe. This will open up rental capacity, which will be wonderful and new families will move to our town, which is great. I want to see our town grow; I want to see it double. However, it is not good enough to say we have data from 2022 and 2023 when I am trying to look at what budget we are going to put in place for the year ahead. I have already had such difficulty around getting school transport for children going to a school a few miles outside of Ballinasloe. We need to plan ahead now. Regarding that new school and classrooms, that new school for Scoil an Chroí Naofa for which I battled, was 27 years of waiting. I do not know how many children, parents, and grandparents have gone through that school but they are still waiting for a school and it will be another three years before that school comes on line. Where does the Minister think those children and families, including those proposed for Ballinasloe who are coming from Ukraine, are going to go? I do not know.
I welcome the young people who are in the Gallery and hope they are able to follow what is going on. The Senator is asking me about making sure the Government is providing enough school places for students in Ballinasloe; whether there will be enough places for the students who are coming; and why we cannot build schools faster. I think that is roughly the Senator's question. The Minister, Deputy Foley, cannot be in the Chamber because she is travelling abroad and so I am answering on her behalf. The Senator's specific question, which she feels I did not answer, was when would the school capacity review be completed. I will ask the Department of Education to give me an answer on that. I met with the Minister in the last few days. I will meet with her again and ask her to give the Senator a specific answer on that. The Senator must be heartened by the fact that this school, Scoil an Chroí Naofa, for which the Senator has been looking for so many years, now has planning permission. That is a significant milestone. Many schools around the country have not reached that stage of 2B. The Department of Education has 300 school projects under construction at the moment. This is one area of the capital project that is going well. The Department is spending the money that is being allocated to the projects and is building schools at a rate of knots. I have strong confidence in the Department of Education as to what it is doing. The Department is reporting - and the Senator may feel differently - that there is apparent capacity in primary schools across the Ballinasloe school planning area, however that the primary schools within the town have more limited capacity. Existing capacity at post-primary level is certainly under much more stress than it is at primary level.
