Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have another commitment I have to leave for. I will come in now and stay for as long as I can for other contributions.

I thank the House for the opportunity to be here. I thank Senators O'Loughlin and Byrne for proposing and seconding the motion. It gives me an opportunity to set out the range of actions being taken by the Department of Education to plan for and deliver additional school capacity.

I assure the House that it is an absolute priority for the Department to ensure every child in the State has access to a school place appropriate to their needs. We are continually investing in existing and new schools to ensure this is the case. Since 2020 my Department has invested in the region of €4.5 billion in schools, involving the completion of more than 800 school building projects.Construction is under way on approximately 300 different projects, all at various stages. This will include 31 new school buildings. These 300 projects currently at construction involve a total State investment of over €1.2 billion.

As part of a review of the national development plan allocations, Government recently approved new medium-term capital allocations for the Department of Education. This allows us to move forward with plans to further expand the number of available places across the school system. In this context, it is planned that close to 90 projects currently at tender stage, including a further 28 new school buildings, will be authorised to proceed to construction over the course of 2024 and early 2025. We have already issued letters of intent for some of those projects, and more will follow. In total, around €800 million will be invested in these projects under the Department's large-scale capital programme, an additional accommodation scheme for essential classroom accommodation.

Between them, these projects will provide over 10,000 additional and replacement post-primary school places, more 350 additional and replacement primary classrooms and almost 150 classrooms for children and young people with special education needs. This significant additional delivery and oncoming capacity is a critical part of the Department's work to ensure that there is sufficient provision across the country in the context of school places. This ongoing capital investment is underpinned by a robust forward-planning approach to school place provision.

The Department uses a geographical information system to anticipate school place demands across 314 school planning areas. Information from a range of sources is used, and those sources include child benefit data, school enrolment data and CSO data, while information on residential development activity is also utilised for this purpose and that is a consequence of engagement with local authorities on the ground. Project Ireland 2040 population and housing targets also inform my Department's projects on school place requirements. As stated, there is extensive engagement with local authorities, management bodies, school patrons, etc.

I would like to briefly set out some of the current enrolment rends and projects that are relevant to our planning. There are 1 million learners across 4,000 schools right across the country. At a national level, Ireland has been experiencing growth in overall post-primary enrolments, and this is projected to continue in many parts of the country for the next number of years before beginning to decline. However, first year enrolments nationally are expected to have peaked in this particular school year, and will begin to decline next year. This information is obviously important as we forward plan. At national level, there will be 10,000 more first year places available for the 2024-25 school year than there are children in sixth class. At primary level, total enrolments are projected to decline by approximately 100,000, or almost one fifth, over the next decade.

Of course, there is significant regional and local variation in enrolment trends and projections, with residential construction activity one of the most significant influencing factors. This means that even as enrolments begin to decline nationally, we can still expect to see increasing demand at primary and post-primary level in particular towns and areas. This is fully factored in to the Department's forward planning approach.

Notwithstanding strong forward planning and the scale of expanded capacity already delivered and in train, enrolment pressures may arise in a very limited number of school planning areas from year to year. This must be seen in the context of an annual enrolment process that caters for some 140,000 pupils at junior infants and first year level, and that on the whole transacts smoothly. However, while there are 314 school planning areas right across the country, typically only about ten of those areas require follow-up engagement from the Department with schools and patrons to work through mainstream school place solutions for the following year. I acknowledge, however, that there is concern about enrolment pressures in certain areas but it is important to note that this may not necessarily be as a result of school place deficits in a town or area. It may be driven by other factors such as duplication of applications, applications from outside the local area and school-of-choice factors. The Department's priority and responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, meet the school place need.

I would briefly like to look at County Kildare, as it has been referenced. More than €250 million has been invested in school infrastructure in Kildare since 2020 alone, reflecting a strong focus on alignment of school place availability with the significant residential development across the county. Our data shows that in County Kildare overall, there are approximately 400 more first year places available for September 2024 than there are children in sixth class. In nine of the 14 school planning areas in County Kildare, there are more first year places available for 2024-25 than there are children in sixth class in primary school who are due to go to secondary. When school planning areas are clustered to take account of typical enrolment patterns, it can be seen that there are more first year places than sixth class students across each area in the county. That said, it is acknowledged that enrolment pressures have arisen in specific areas, and the Department has been working very closely with patrons, management bodies and schools to work solutions in a number of cases where additional places are required for the coming school year.

The motion references a common application system that has worked very effectively in Limerick and Ennis. Significant additional post-primary capacity has been added in both locations in recent years, including the establishment of two new post-primary schools in Limerick, and the expansion of Ennis Community College. While the admissions process still takes a number of months to work through, the combination of the additional capacity provided and the co-ordinated approach to admissions means that these are excellent examples of a streamlined process for schools and families. Many other schools at both primary and post-primary level also have various local co-ordination arrangements in place, and this type of co-ordination is very helpful. I welcome such initiatives.

There would be challenges in scaling the common application system model to operate at a national level, including the complexity and factoring in of each school's unique admissions policy, to which they are entitled. In both Limerick city and Ennis, the process applies to a discreet geographic area with a defined list of relevant schools. At a national level, there is significant movement into and out of school planning areas for post-primary education, particularly in Dublin areas. Applying a CAS-style process can be challenging in that context. However, the Department has run a number of pilots in this regard, and that, in conjunction with the common application system in Limerick and Ennis, will have the potential to assist with the strengthening of the admissions approach in other areas for future years, and there will be enormous learning from it.

Other actions that are being advanced for the 2025 admissions process include engagement with schools and education partners to better align the timeframes for application, and to strengthen data-sharing arrangements. As part of planning for September 2024, data on applications for admissions has been shared with my Department by post-primary schools in areas of potential challenge. The sharing of this data from the outset of the admissions process last year has been really effective in enabling the Department and schools to differentiate perceived pressures due to factors such as duplication of applications, as already referenced, and the popularity of particular schools from real school place shortfalls. In the majority of areas, through the work of schools, patrons, management bodies and the Department, there are sufficient school places available to meet the needs of children in the area. Additional places have already been made available in some area where required, and further solutions will continue to be worked through.

I want to sincerely say that I am acutely aware of the anxiety that can be experienced by individual children and by their families while they await confirmation of school places. It is for that reason that we do want to speed things up much earlier, and we do want the sharing of information. I want to assure families that all children who have not yet received an offer of a school place for 2024-25 will be provided with a place. The Department is also working with schools and patrons to assess any deficits for the 2025-26 school year, and will continue to work to ensure that additional capacity is provided where required.

I would also like to take the opportunity to reference special education, as it has been referred to here too. To the greatest extent possible, students with special educational needs are supported in mainstream education settings through additional resources such as access to special education teachers, special needs assistants and additional supports. We now have 40,000 professionals working in the area of special education, more than we have ever had before. That is as it should be, and we would like to do more as well.

Where mainstream enrolment is not possible, students with special educational needs are educated in special classes or special schools. The Department continues to engage with the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, with regard to the forward planning of new special classes and additional school places. This work involves a detailed review of statistical data with a view to forecasting demand for special class places, an analysis of available school accommodation, consideration of improved data-sharing arrangements and a particular focus on the provision of special classes at post-primary level. This engagement is bearing fruit for the 2023-24 school year. The NCSE sanctioned 391 new special classes, including 255 at primary level and 136 at post-primary level. We now, in the system, have almost 3,000 special classes, two thirds of which have been delivered under this present Government during the last four years.

The 2023-24 school year has also seen the establishment of two new special schools, one in Carrigtwohill in east Cork, and one in Dublin 7. In the four years during which the Government has been in office, seven special schools have been delivered.Along with these two new special schools, more than 300 additional students have been accommodated in special schools compared with previous school years. In addition four new special schools for 2024-25 have also been announced. They will be in Meath, Kildare, Wexford and Limerick.

I would like to conclude by underlining again the overriding priority attached by the Department of Education, through our forward planning, our strong delivery pipeline and ongoing collaboration with parents, management bodies and schools to ensuring a school place for every child. This has always been, and will continue to be, at the very heart of our approach.