merrion street

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn today announced the patrons for nine new post-primary schools which will open in 2015 and 2016.

These new schools will provide additional places for up to 7,300 students in areas of Cork, Cavan, Dublin and North Wicklow which have seen their populations expand in recent years.

The new schools include five which will cater for up to 1,000 students each.

Four of the new schools will be under the patronage of Educate Together, two will be run by the local Education and Training Board (ETB), one by the Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST), one jointly by the local ETB and Educate Together and the final school will be managed by the local ETB with involvement of the Catholic Bishop of Cloyne.

Minister Quinn said,

The fact that the new patrons include those of multi-denominational and those of a Catholic ethos clearly demonstrates that the Department and I are committed to providing diversity of ethos in our schools and respecting the demands of parents.

I am very pleased to see that Educate Together will be sole patron in four schools and joint patron in a fifth school, particularly as ET was formally recognised as a second level patron body by me just two years ago.

I am confident that these new schools, alongside the existing schools in each area, will mean that parents and students have real choice when it comes to deciding which school most reflects their own ethos.