Written Answers Nos. 90-98
90. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Education and Skills when work is due to start on the primary school amalgamation (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54488/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThis project is being delivered by the Office of Public Works (OPW) on a devolved basis. In August, 2012, a planning application for the delivery of a primary school in Kanturk was lodged by the OPW with Cork County Council. In April 2013, Cork County Council notified the OPW that planning permission for the new school had been refused. Officials in the Building Unit of my Department are working closely with OPW to establish if the issues raised by Cork County Council can be addressed, with a view to lodging a revised planning application for the delivery of the new school at Kanturk once these issues are resolved.
91. Deputy Pat Breen asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will report on the status of a project (details supplied) in County Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54489/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy is aware, a process is in place under which the issue of permanent recognition, for the school referred to, is being assessed. This process is based on the school's progress in fulfilling the undertakings supplied by the school's patron to meet permanent recognition criteria in accordance with the requirements of the Education Act 1998 and the Rules for National Schools. All Recognised schools, regardless of their philosophy or ethos, are required to comply with the Education Act 1998 and the Rules for National Schools. My Department met with the school concerned in October 2012 at which it was agreed that a number of issues had to be addressed by the school so as to satisfy the requirements for permanent recognition. Both the Department and school concerned have committed to ongoing engagement, and the Department's inspectorate agreed to provide a number of advisory/support visits to the school to assist them in making progress to fulfil the requirements. The first set of the advisory visits occurred in the last academic year and further visits are scheduled. It was also agreed that the school would have their period of provisional recognition extended by three years to allow them adequate time to reach the requirements. This extension will not impede the school receiving permanent recognition in the interim if the criteria for recognition are satisfactorily met. The extension of provisional recognition recognises the shared commitment between the school community and the Department to further ongoing engagement with the objective of enabling the school concerned to meet the permanent recognition criteria as soon as possible.
92. Deputy Dominic Hannigan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will identify the catchment area for a school (details supplied) in County Meath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54498/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThere are no catchment areas specifically for Irish-medium schools. However for planning purposes the country is divided into geographic districts each with several primary schools feeding into a post-primary centre with one or more post-primary schools. These defined districts facilitate the orderly planning of school provision and accommodation needs. The school referred to by the Deputy is in the Laytown feeder area.
93. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding future building plans for primary schools (details supplied) in County Cork; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the proposal consolidates all classes from both schools on to the one site; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54573/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra94. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will specify the ownership status of the sites on which the infant classes of two schools (details supplied) in County Cork are situated. [54574/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 93 and 94 together. I can confirm that a proposal for a school campus development has been received from the two schools, referred to by the Deputy. This proposal envisages that the development concerned will be progressed on the campus site also referred to by the Deputy. Both schools have the same patron, who owns the existing school sites concerned. My Department has been liaising with the schools concerned and has met with them to discuss their proposal. It will be possible to progress the project further when additional information and clarifications sought by my Department is returned by the school authorities concerned.
95. Deputy Olivia Mitchell asked the Minister for Education and Skills if in order to improve difficult cash flow problems being faced by primary schools, if the capitation grant and the ancillary services grants will be paid earlier in the school year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54576/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe manner in which primary schools are funded takes account of the fact that the Department's accounting period is based on a calendar year, while schools traditionally operate on the academic year commencing in September. Thus, primary schools receive capitation funding in January and June, and the ancillary services grant in March. The amount of grant paid to an individual primary school for capitation and ancillary services is determined by the school's enrolment, subject to a minimum grant for both capitation and ancillary services in respect of schools with enrolments up to 60, and a maximum ancillary services grant in the case of schools with enrolments of 500 or more. The Deputy may wish to note that Circular 40/2009 clarifies issues relating to the allocation of funding for primary schools. The circular states that capitation funding provided for general running costs and funding provided for caretaking and secretarial services may be regarded as a common grant from which the Board of Management can allocate according to its own priorities. In due course, both grant schemes will be merged. In the interim, both grants will continue to be paid according to existing timelines and calculated separately as heretofore.
96. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will meet with representatives from Maynooth schools group to address its concerns regarding the proposed new post-primary school in Maynooth. [54588/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra97. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reasons there should be two separate post-primary schools located on the same site in Maynooth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54589/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra98. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he has had a cost-benefit analysis conducted of plans to have two separate schools located on the same site in Maynooth, County Kildare; if he had a cost-benefit analysis conducted on having one amalgamated school on the same location; if he will release this information to the public; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54590/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra104. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the date on which the members of the new schools establishment group were made aware of the error in the report to the new schools establishment group on the patronage of the new post-primary school to be established in Maynooth in 2014, clarified by the forward planning section on 19 September 2012. [54678/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra105. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the error in the report to the new schools establishment group, clarified by the forward planning section on 19 September 2012, on the patronage of the new post-primary school to be established in Maynooth in 2014 when he announced on 25 July 2012 the successful patron for the new post-primary school to be established in Maynooth in 2014. [54679/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 96 to 98, inclusive, 104 and 105 together.
I have met with representatives of the Maynooth Schools Group and I also recently wrote to the Chairperson of that Group fully outlining the reasons for my decision to provide Maynooth with two fully-vertical post-primary schools and confirming that I am adhering to this decision.There are fundamental educational reasons for not allowing a junior/senior post-post primary school configuration in Maynooth. These include: the introduction of a third major transfer point for students between primary level and third level; The question of which school the Transition Year should be placed in; The undermining of Department policy to maintain as common a curriculum as possible for as long as possible to avoid the risk of specialisation too early and school drop out; The potential danger that the senior school will come to be seen as the 'specialist' Leaving Certificate centre into which transfers are sought at senior cycle; The loss of the advantages to be gained when teachers regularly teach students from first year to sixth year; The possibility of students from other schools seeking entry to the senior school with the attendant repercussions for other schools. Apart for these compelling educational reasons, patronage of the new school, was awarded to the Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB) specifically on the basis that it would deliver the prescribed curriculum at both Junior and Senior Cycle. Any change to this stated intention could lead to a challenge or to calls for the patronage determination process to be commenced afresh. This could have the effects of both delaying the establishment of the new school and, of course, re-opening the patronage of the new school to other applicant patrons. I am also satisfied that the erroneous description of the existing post-primary school in Maynooth as being a designated Community College and which was notified the New Schools Establishment Group on 24 August 2012, was corrected as soon as it came to light and that this had no bearing on the outcome of the patronage determination process for the new school. It was never the intention to provide separate junior/senior school buildings in Maynooth. Therefore, the cost benefit analysis which the Deputy refers to does not arise. This issue is moot in any event because the configuration within the buildings would not impact building costs.
