Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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It is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998. In this regard a Board of Management may find it necessary to restrict enrolment to children from a particular area or a particular age group or on the basis of some other criterion. The criteria to be applied by schools in such circumstances are a matter for the schools themselves. This selection process and the enrolment policy on which it is based must be non-discriminatory and must be applied fairly in respect of all applicants. Under section 15 (2) (d) of the Education Act 1998, each school is legally obliged to publish its enrolment policy.

As the Deputy will be aware, in June 2011, I announced the need for the establishment of 20 new primary schools to cater for increased demographics across a number of locations up to 2017, including the Sandymount/ Ringsend area in Dublin 2/4. In this regard, a new primary school will open in the area in September 2014.

In addition, a building project to facilitate the amalgamation and expansion of two existing primary schools in the area is included in the 5 Year Construction Programme that I announced in March 2012. The project is currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning, stage 2(b), which includes securing all of the required statutory approvals (planning permission, fire cert, DAC) and the preparation of tender documents. The design team will then complete its stage 2(b) report which will be submitted to the Department for review. Assuming no issues arise, the project will then be authorised to proceed to tender and construction. My Department is currently liaising with schools in the area in the context of addressing any short term accommodation needs.