Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 October 2017
48. Deputy John Curran asked the Minister for Education and Skills the work or progress to date in preparing plans for new schools in a proposed new development (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45011/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Minister will be aware, a strategic development zone is being planned for Clonburris in County Dublin. When completed, it will comprise more than 8,000 housing units and a population of more than 20,000 people. As this plan is developed, what is the Minister's and Department's plan in terms of the provision of schools at all levels for this new town?
My Department works closely with local authorities to establish the location, scale and pace of any major residential developments and requests sites to be reserved for school purposes, where necessary, to ensure as far as possible the timely delivery of any required education infrastructure in the future.
As the Deputy may be aware, the draft planning scheme for the area to which he refers is currently out for public consultation, in line with statutory requirements. My Department is preparing a submission to the relevant local authority in respect of the SDZ.
The current draft planning scheme provides for three new post primary schools and three new primary schools, in addition to existing school provision. My Department has plans to develop one of the school sites to provide post-primary accommodation in the area, subject to the adoption of the planning scheme and the views of the planning authority.
With respect to additional sites reserved, my Department uses a geographical information system, GIS, to monitor demographic growth and identify when the pressure for additional school places will arise. When the demographic assessments indicate that a new school, primary or post-primary, is required to be established, my Department will seek to proceed with the acquisition and development of an appropriate school site in order to provide the necessary accommodation.
I thank the Minister for his reply, which in some regards is the traditional reply that when the houses are built and people are occupying them the schools will follow. This has been the traditional model in the greater Clondalkin-Lucan area and it has imposed considerable hardship on new communities. The difference with this model is it is a strategic development zone, where infrastructure is to be provided in tandem with the housing development. We need to move away from the traditional problems we experienced in the past. Rather than waiting and doing an analysis on new population schools must be provided in tandem with the housing development. One of the schools identified has been built and is currently occupied and reaching capacity. It is important to recognise the location of Clonburris. It is straddled between Clondalkin and Lucan, an area which has seen significant population growth. Many of the existing schools in these areas have no spare capacity and so it is really important that the Department's plan is dovetailed to meet the strategic development such that there are no gaps. We should not wait until the population is in place to address the educational needs of the area.
I take the Deputy's point. Obviously, we do not build schools and wait for the population to arrive. We cannot afford to do that. Deputy Durkan asked earlier if we are able to meet the pressures of an expanding population. What we have is a just-in-time policy. This policy has been around for years. That does not mean that policy does not closely monitor demographic trends. Issues such as births and local authority information are used to identify where we need to anticipate provision. The system is working. As the Deputy said, there are already new schools in the area and we are planning to provide further schools. I will ask my Department to look specifically at how it is anticipating provision and the timing of investment in this area. We do not have the luxury of a build and they will come policy. We have to take account of birth rates, recognising that in three or four years times those children will be hitting the primary school system and that is when we need to have the places available.
There are no birth rates to take account of because this is a brand new town. It is a greenfield site on which there will be approximately 8,500 housing units. The schools will have to be built just in time, not afterwards, or there will be no school in the area for children to attend. This is a big development. I appreciate the Minister's undertaking to look at the issue. For this scale of development to occur, the infrastructure must be provided in tandem. This has to be a phased development. We cannot have thousands of houses built and a decision to build a school and it appear three years later. That will not work. It will put a stop to this housing development.
As the Minister is aware the already huge population of Clondalkin, Adamstown and set to increase by 20,000 following the completion of the Clonburris development. Has consideration been given to the provision of a third level institution in this area?
The Minister of State, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, has responsibility for third-level provision. As the Deputy will be aware, what we need to do is consolidate the institutions of technology in Dublin into one strong technological university that has the capacity to span all of the needs of the city. Small stand-alone third-level institutions is the direction we have been taking. We need strong institutions. While I am not ruling the idea of new colleges in the future, the trend in recent times has been to strengthen the institutions we have and grow from the existing base. That is only a general comment.
The point made by the Deputy is a valid one. We do look at the type of occupancy that one would expect in see in developments as they come on stream. That is factored into the plan. It is not a case of looking in a rigid way at the birth rates. Given these types of developments are going to become an increasing feature of integrated planning, which we will have to adhere to if we are to meet the ambitions of the national framework, I will ask my Department to take a fresh look at how we deal with the education planning of SDZs because I think the issue warrants attention.
