Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 July 2018
234. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason parents in Duleek, County Meath are excluded from the patronage competition for a new secondary school in areas (details supplied). [30525/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy will be aware, the Government recently announced plans for the establishment of 42 new schools over the next four years (2019 to 2022), including a new 600 pupil post-primary school to be established in 2019 to serve the Drogheda and Laytown school planning areas as a regional solution. This announcement follows nationwide, demographic exercises carried out by my Department into the future need for primary and post-primary schools across the country and the 4-year horizon will enable increased lead-in times for planning and delivery of the necessary infrastructure.
A patronage process is run after it has been decided, based on demographic analysis, that a new school is required. This patronage process is open to all patron bodies and prospective patrons. Parental preferences for each patron, from parents of children who reside in the school planning areas concerned, together with the extent of diversity currently available in these areas, are key to decisions in relation to the outcome of this process.
An Online Patronage Process System (OPPS) has been developed by my Department to provide objective information to all parents which will allow them to make an informed choice about their preferred model of patronage for their child’s education. Parental preferences were previously collected based on direct engagement with patron bodies. The Online Patronage Process System (OPPS) website is currently live for the post-primary schools to be established in 2019.
All new schools established since 2011 to meet demographic demand are required to prioritise enrolments from the designated school planning area(s) which the school was established to serve. Therefore, only parents of eligible children residing in the relevant school planning area(s) can express a preference with regard to the patronage of the new school. This does not preclude schools from enrolling pupils from outside of the designated school planning area, rather it reflects the need to accommodate in the first instance the demographic for which the school was established.
As the Deputy may be aware, there are currently 27 primary schools located in the Drogheda school planning area, including 2 primary schools in Duleek. Parents of children, including children attending a primary school in Duleek, who are due to start post-primary education in the 5 year period 2019 to 2023 and who are resident in the Drogheda school planning area may be eligible to express a preference with regard to the patronage of the new post-primary school. Parents can visit the OPPS website at https://patronage.education.gov.ie to check their eligibility and to view the relevant school planning area map.
