Written answers

Thursday, 11 July 2024

Department of Education and Skills

School Enrolments

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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86. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department is planning to change the approach to the planning and delivery of schools to ensure that new urban fast growth zones can see schools built in a timely manner; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30484/24]

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Planning for school provision takes full account of local dynamics, including faster growth in urban areas linked to residential development.

In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department of Education divides the country into 314 school planning areas.

The Department uses a Geographic Information System, which facilitates the analysis of data from a range of sources, including CSO Census data, 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 part of the demographic demand analysis, my Department also factors in planning and construction activity in the residential sector. This involves the analysis of data sources from Local Authorities and the CSO, along with engagement with local authorities. This ensures that schools infrastructure planning is keeping pace with demographic changes at a local level, where the picture can quickly evolve due to planned new residential development.

My Department also conducts granular analysis below the level of a school planning area, particularly where a school planning area encompasses both high growth urban settlement areas and a more rural hinterland. Our analysis of school place demand in urban areas experiencing high population growth has indicated that demand in the urban area can be 10-20% higher than the school planning area as a whole.

To ensure alignment of school provision with roll-out of additional residential development, the Department liaises with all 31 Local Authorities in respect of the County Development Plans and any associated Local Area Plans with a view to identifying any potential long-term school accommodation requirements across school planning areas. My Department engages with all consultation phases of these plans to ensure that there is an adequate amount of appropriately zoned and suitably located sites for future school place provision and that they are in line with objectives as identified in the National Planning Framework. Department officials made 61 submissions to County Development Plans and Local Area Plans in 2023.

Where demographic data indicates that additional provision is required, the delivery of such additional provision is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may, be provided through:

  • Utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools,
  • Extending the capacity of a school or schools,
  • Provision of a new school or schools.
If additional accommodation is required, the aim to try and facilitate this, as much as possible, by way of expansion of existing schools rather than establishing new schools. The expansion of existing schools is consistent with wider Government policy in relation to compact growth, as set out in the National Planning Framework.

New schools are only established in areas of demographic growth as the resources available for school infrastructure have to be prioritised to meet the needs of areas of significant population increase so as to ensure that every child has a school place. Since 2018 over 50 new schools have been established, including 4 new Special Schools for the 2024/2025 school year.

My Department has a strong track record of project delivery. Since 2020, the Department has invested in the region of €4.9 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 900 school building projects and with construction currently underway at approximately 300 other projects, which includes 30 new school buildings. The 300 projects currently at construction involve a total State investment of over €1.2bn. I also announced earlier in the year that close to 90 school building projects at tender stage would be authorised to proceed to construction over the course of 2024 and early 2025. In total, around €800 million will be invested in these projects under the department’s Large Scale Capital Programme and Additional Accommodation Scheme for essential classroom accommodation.

Given the scale of demand and budgetary parameters, the Department must operate a tightly prioritised approach to project delivery which balances the range of needs across the programme, including the requirement for additional places linked to housing development and the increased requirement nationally for special education provision.

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