The Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh T.D. today announced the patronage of 12 new primary schools to be established in 2019.
In all cases, the Minister accepted the recommendations of the New Schools Establishment Group (NSEG). These schools were announced in April 2018 to serve a number of locations nationwide under increased demographic pressures.
Minister McHugh said: “The establishment of these new schools forms an essential part of plans to ensure that sufficient new school places are available to cater for the growing cohort of pupils at primary level over the coming years. Additional places will also continue to be provided by extending existing provision, as included in the Six Year Programme of Capital Investment in Schools 2016-2021.”
The Minister said: “Parental preference has become a key determinant in deciding the patronage of new schools and I’m pleased to say that the views of parents as expressed through the process are strongly reflected in the decisions I have made on the patronage of these 12 new schools.
“I previously announced that, in line with the recommendation of the NSEG, patronage of the new eight classroom school to be established in 2019 to serve the Drumcondra_Marino_Dublin1 school planning area was to be a gaelscoil under the patronage of An Foras Pátrúnachta.
“I am pleased that a number of different patron bodies have been successful in this patronage process offering parents in these areas a diversity of patronage.”
It is envisaged that these primary schools will be established in interim accommodation initially, pending permanent accommodation solutions being put in place as part of the Department’s Design and Build Programme. The Department has appointed a project manager to assist in the procurement of interim school accommodation for the schools opening in September 2019 and interim accommodation solution options have been identified for all of the schools.
The 13 new primary schools to be established in 2019 will provide significant additional pupil places in the areas they will serve and between them will have capacity to cater for up to 3,328 primary pupils when fully developed.
The Minister said: “I am particularly conscious of the clear parental demand for diversity of provision in all of the areas where the new schools are being established. I would like to thank parents for engaging with the process. All applications were assessed on the basis of published criteria, including the extent of diversity in existing schools and the scale of diversity to be provided by the new school or schools.”
The process has evolved to incorporate the language of instruction of a proposed new school as part of the assessment process. This makes parental preference for English or Irish-medium instruction an integral part of the patronage assessment and recommendation process.
The Minister said, “I am very pleased that there will be three gaelscoileanna among the 13 primary schools to be established in 2019, reflecting the high level of parental demand for Irish-medium provision in these areas.”
The NSEG also noted that the Department continues to make good progress in relation to consideration of Irish-medium preferences and has provided in its report to the Group an outline of how it might provide additional opportunities to expand Irish-medium provision, including by means of proactive engagement with existing Irish-medium patrons in relation to demand, and the potential for expansion of existing Irish-medium schools and/or the requirements for new schools.
The patronage process for the four primary schools and five post-primary schools to be established in September 2020 will also commence this year.
The Minister expressed his gratitude to the members of the New Schools Establishment Group for their valuable input to the process, ensuring an objective and transparent process.
Further information is available here: http://www.education.ie/en/Schools-Colleges/Information/Establishing-a-New-School/
Notes for Editors
The Patrons of the 12 new primary schools are:
All of the schools are being established to meet an identified demographic need.
Details on the arrangements which apply to the patronage of these new schools are available on the Department’s website. See link above.
The detailed Assessment Reports for each of the areas concerned are also published on the Department’s website.
New Schools Establishment Group
The patronage process for new schools is overseen by the New Schools Establishment Group (NSEG). This independent advisory group was set up in 2011 to advise the Minister on the patronage of new schools following its consideration of a report prepared by the Department on the applications received. Minister McHugh accepted the recommendations of the Group in all cases in respect of the four post-primary schools due to open in September 2019.
The members of the NSEG are:
- Mr. Joe Hamill (Chairperson), Retired Secretary General of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs;
- Professor Gerry Mac Ruairc, Head, School of Education, National University of Ireland Galway;
- Professor Sarah Moore, Professor of Teaching and Learning, University of Limerick.