Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 June 2021
146. Deputy Paul Donnelly asked the Minister for Education the exact catchment area for a new school (details supplied); and the reason students who live less than 2 km from the school but live in Dublin 7 will be excluded. [33625/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a Geographical Information System, using data from a range of sources, including 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.
As the Deputy may be aware, on the basis of demographic demand identified by my Department, Edmund Rice College was established in 2017 to serve the Castleknock_D15 and Carpenterstown_D15 school planning areas as a regional solution, and the site for the school is the Castleknock_D15 school planning area.
New schools established since 2011 to meet demographic demand, such as the Edmund Rice College, are required, in the first instance, to prioritise pupil applications from within the designated school planning area(s) which the school was established to serve. This does not preclude schools from enrolling pupils from outside of the school planning area where they have sufficient places, rather it reflects the need to accommodate in the first instance the demographic for which the school was established.
Dublin 7 is in the Cabra_Phibsboro_Dublin 7 school planning area which is currently served by 8 post-primary schools. This includes Cabra Community College, which is under the patronage of City of Dublin Education and Training Board and has a current enrolment of some 120 pupils in the 2020/2021 school year, is co-educational and multi-denominational in nature and provides for the local community. This school is also within 2km of the Dublin 7 area to which the Deputy is referring.
