Up To 40 New Schools To Be Established In Six Years

Twenty new primary schools and twenty new post-primary schools are to be established in the next six years.

Announcing the new schools, the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn said: "My Department is forecasting an increase of over 45,050 primary pupils and 24,900 post-primary pupils by the start of the 2017/18 school year.

"In order to meet the needs of our growing population of school going children, we will have to establish 40 new schools, as well as extending a number of existing schools."

Of the 40 new schools, 17 will be in the Dublin area with a further twelve in the commuter belt of Wicklow, Kildare, Meath and Louth.

There will be six new schools established in Cork, three in Galway, and one each in Wexford and Cavan.

These new schools will be in addition to the seven new primary schools opened in autumn 2010. The new schools will generally be sixteen-classroom primary schools and up to 1,000-student post-primary schools. The estimated capital cost of the establishment of the new schools is in the region of €380m and the programme of delivery will include some PPP projects. There will also be additional school extension projects which will be needed to cater for the growing school going population.

The Minister also announced the establishment of new arrangements for the recognition of new primary and second-level schools. Minister Quinn said: “With the significant number of new schools, there will be an opportunity for patrons to seek to apply for patronage of these schools.

"The new arrangements published by my Department today, provide a balanced approach to allow for applications to be made from prospective patrons for the establishment of schools.

"The criteria to be used in deciding on patronage of the new schools place a particular emphasis on parental demand for plurality and diversity of patronage."

(BMcN)