merrion street

Up to 1,728 additional primary places to be provided

The Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton T.D., today announced the patronage of the four new primary schools to be established in 2017 and 2018. In all cases the Minister accepted the recommendations of the New Schools Establishment Group. These schools were announced in November 2015 to serve a number of locations under increased demographic pressure.

Minister Bruton said:
“The basic aim of this Government is to use our economic success to create a fair and compassionate society. In few areas is there as much capacity to deliver on this as in education.
“We are committed to delivering on our Programme for Government commitment to reach 400 multi-denominational and non-denominational schools by 2030. In a changing Ireland, we believe that families around the country should be offered greater choice in the education system.
“The establishment of these new schools will ensure that sufficient school places are in place 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 part of the capital investment programme for schools”.
“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 four new schools.”

The Minister also noted the improvement in the process to facilitate a separate parental preference for education through Irish brings greater visibility to consideration of the level of demonstrated demand for Irish medium education.

The patronage of the four new primary schools will be as follows:

· Patronage of the new school in Ballincollig, Cork has been awarded to An Foras Pátrúnachta.
· Scoil Sinead has been awarded patronage of the new school in Pelletstown
· Educate Together has been awarded patronage of the new schools in both Dún Laoghaire and Dublin South City Centre.

These new schools will provide significant additional pupil places in the areas they will serve and between them will have capacity to cater for over 1,700 additional primary pupils when fully developed.

The Minister also stated that in making his decisions he was particularly conscious of the clear parental demand for diversity of provision in many of the areas where the new schools are being established. 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 schools.

The Minister expressed his gratitude to the Chairperson and new members of the New Schools Establishment Group for their valuable input to the process, ensuring an objective and transparent process. The Department will be contacting each of the patron bodies directly in relation to the logistics of the establishment of these new schools.


Notes for Editors

The Patrons of the four new primary schools are:

County School Planning Area Recommended Patron Body Recommended Medium of Instruction Year of opening
Cork Ballincollig An Foras Pátrúnachta Irish 2017
Dublin Pelletstown Scoil Sinead English 2017
Dublin Dún Laoghaire Educate Together English 2017
Dublin Dublin South City Centre Educate Together English 2018

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 below.

The detailed Assessment Reports for each of the areas concerned are also published on the Department’s website.

Scoil Sinead
Scoil Sinead is a new organisation applying for the patronage of a primary school. It is already working in partnership with the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB in Griffeen Community College, the new post-primary school for Lucan to open in September 2017. The Board of Patrons of Scoil Sinead aims to embrace the desire for diversity in education and is committed to the inclusion of all its students regardless of their abilities. Scoil Sinead plans to operate a Multi-denominational, co-educational, English-medium primary school.

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.
The group was chaired by Dr. Seamus McGuinness, retired senior lecturer in the Education Department at Trinity College Dublin in his last meeting as Chair and member of the Group.
The new members of the NSEG are:
· Mr. Joe Hamill, 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, Associate Vice-President Academic, University of Limerick.

Minister Bruton accepted the recommendations of the Group in all cases.

Related Links are all available at:
· Report for New Schools Establishment Group Patronage for New Primary Schools for September 2017 & 2018
· Report of the New Schools Establishment Group on the Patronage of Primary Schools Scheduled to Commence in September 2017 and 2018
· Assessment Report Ballincollig, County Cork
· Assessment Report Pelletstown, Dublin 7
· Assessment Report Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin
· Assessment Report Dublin South City Centre


See more at: http://www.education.ie/en/Schools-Colleges/Information/Establishing-a-New-School/