Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 February 2023
124. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Education when the primary school which is mentioned in the Woodbrook-Shanganagh Local Area Plan, Shankill, County Dublin will be provided; and the planned patronage for same. [4717/23]
View answerThe planned establishment of a new primary school in 2021 to serve the Bray/Woodbrook Shanganagh school planning area was announced in 2018 as a result of a countrywide demographic exercise. Further analysis has since been conducted on the necessity for the establishment of a number of planned new schools, including the school to serve this school planning area, taking into account a number of factors, including the pace of delivery of the expected additional residential development in the school planning areas, associated enrolments and the capacity in existing schools in the areas.
Provision has been made in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Development Plan for a designated primary school site in the Woodbrook area. This site is ideally located to serve the planned new residential developments in Woodbrook and Shanganagh.
It had been projected, in 2018, that these residential lands would be developed in a shorter timeframe. However, two significant residential developments in this area have now commenced and will be built out in over the next number of years.
My Department is satisfied that the existing demand in the Bray/Woodbrook Shanganagh school planning area can be accommodated at present by the existing and growing schools in this area. As a result, the establishment of the planned new school has been deferred.
The pace of delivery of additional residential development in this school planning area, along with updated enrolment data and demographic data will be kept under review and this will inform the timing of school requirements. My Department will continue to liaise with the Local Authority in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and local developers in respect to the projected completion of these residential developments.
A patronage process is run after it has been decided, based on demographic analysis, that a new school is to be established. This patronage process is open to all patron bodies and prospective patrons. Parental preferences for each patron, from parents of children who reside in the school planning areas concerned, together with the extent of diversity currently available in these areas, are key to decisions in relation to the outcome of this process.
The new Online Patronage Process System (OPPS) has been developed by my Department to provide objective information to all parents and guardians which will allow them to make an informed choice in expressing a preference for their preferred model of patronage for their child’s education.
