Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 December 2022
358. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Education if the board of management of a school (details supplied) that was established as a regional school solution for two school planning areas has the authority to alter the school's catchment area boundary; if not, if that catchment area boundary must remain as the boundary of the relevant school planning areas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61902/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Education Act requires the Minister for Education, as a function, to plan and co-ordinate the provision of education in recognised schools and to do all such acts and things as may be necessary to further the objects of the Act.
The Act also bestows on the Minister all such powers as are necessary or expedient for the purpose of performing her functions.
It also stipulates that in carrying out her functions, the Minister must have regard to the resources available and the practices and traditions relating to the organisation of existing schools and their right to manage their own affairs in accordance with the Act and any charters, deeds, articles of management or other such instruments relating to their establishment or operation.
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, Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas.
As the Deputy is aware, on the basis of demographic demand identified by my Department, Edmund Rice College was established in 2017 to serve the Castleknock_D15 and also, 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.
In most areas, school planning areas were based on traditional school catchment areas where all primary schools were assigned to a post-primary feeder area (typically a population centre or town), containing one or more post-primary schools. The school planning areas were developed for use with the Department’s Geographic Information System (GIS) in 2008 and with the introduction of Small Areas in Census 2011, these areas were amended to align with Census Small Areas. The current school planning areas take account not only of local groupings of schools, but also of natural boundaries, Census Small Areas and other local conditions.
The school planning areas provide a useful means of projecting demographic demand in a localised area or areas, thereby allowing the Department to determine oncoming growth at a relatively localised level to inform recommendations and decisions on where additional school places may be needed. However, there can be a high degree of inward and outward mobility of children between school planning areas, particularly in urban areas, and parents are free to apply to enrol their children in any school, whether that is in the school planning area in which they reside or not. My Department does not have plans to review the school planning areas at this point.
The question of enrolment in individual schools, including the setting of catchment areas, is the responsibility of the Board of Management on behalf of the school Patron and my Department does not seek to intervene in decisions made by schools in such matters.
