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Earlier this year, the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., met with the Northern Irish Education Minister, John O’Dowd, at the North South Ministerial Council and agreed to a joint survey of the border area.

Starting today, parents with Junior Infants and/or 6^th Class children attending any of the primary schools within 10 kilometres of the border and parents with 1^st Year children attending any of the post-primary schools within 12 kilometres of the border are being surveyed.

Letters have been sent to schools in the border counties and the schools will notify all eligible parents about the survey and how to access it.

Launching the survey today, Minister Quinn said: "This survey is an excellent example of cross-border co-operation and I am delighted to be working closely with my Northern counterpart, Minister O’Dowd, in this regard.

"The aim of this survey is to find out how much interest there is from parents in cross-border primary and second-level schooling.

"The results of the surveys will be examined and discussed at the next NSMC in February."

The survey is available at

http://www.education.ie/en/Press-Events/Events/Parental-Survey-on-Cross-Border-Education/Parental-Survey-on-Cross-Border-Education.html

All eligible parents or guardians are asked to complete it on-line by Friday 18^th January. Parents or guardians will require a password to complete the survey and this will be provided, along with other information, in letters from schools.

If parents cannot access the online survey, a paper based version can be requested by ringing the Department at 057 9324447.