Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 February 2022
294. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Education if she will provide the secondary school zoning maps that highlight the catchment areas for students progressing from primary to post primary schools in County Louth and east County Meath in order to review current catchment zones; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10552/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy may be aware, in order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data in a way that takes account of the significant local and regional variations in demographic trends and enrolment projections, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas (SPAs).
Using school planning area boundaries within my Department’s Geographic Information System (GIS) allows data within those boundaries, including data for enrolments in schools, child benefit and other relevant data to be added to the mapping information, grouped and analysed.
The school planning areas are used in the demographic exercise as a basis for the assessment of areas of growth and to inform recommendations on the establishment of any new schools required in that school planning area. In urban areas, in particular, data relating to adjacent school planning areas is also used to inform our consideration of requirements. There are no current plans to revise school planning areas.
The school planning areas in County Louth are as follows:
- Bush
- Dundalk
- Ardee
- Dunleer
- Drogheda
- Carrickmacross
For clarity, this list reflects school planning areas which are fully or partly within the Louth County Council administrative area.
The school planning areas which are fully or partly within east Meath are as follows:
- Ardee
- Navan
- Drogheda
- Laytown
- Ashbourne
- Dunshaughlin
- Kilcock
- Maynooth
- Ratoath
- Dunboyne
Data on schools across the country is available on my Department’s website, www.gov.ie/education under the “Find a School” function. Schools can be searched for using a number of different criteria including, inter alia, School Level, Geographical Area and Ethos and key information on the relevant schools, including enrolments from the 2020/21 academic year, is displayed in the results. A map of the relevant schools is provided as part of the "Find a School" functionality.
Full lists of all schools at primary or post primary level can also be downloaded from the website and these provide further data on individual schools. These lists can be filtered by local authority and/or county which may be helpful.
The following links show maps of each area as, requested.
