Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 February 2026
168. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will report on the decision to transition post-primary schools in Westport from single-sex to co-educational schools; if any adjustments to the subject offering and extracurricular activities have been considered at the post-primary schools in the town for incoming students in the new academic year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11075/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department works closely with school patrons in order to ensure that there are sufficient school places available for all children in Westport each September.
My Department’s ongoing engagement with the patron bodies of the post-primary schools in Westport will ensure that there are sufficient post-primary school places across the two schools and to support the sustainable provision of high-quality post-primary education in the town. Enrolment pressures can be driven by duplications of applications, applications from outside an area, and school of choice factors. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places and that existing capacity is optimised and sustainably managed to avoid unsustainable enlargement of one school at the expense of another in an area.
I wish to advise the Deputy, both schools opened their admissions processes in October and my Department requested information on applications to both schools for first-year places for 2026/2027 to aid its understanding of capacity requirements in Westport for next September. The Department has received the requested enrolment data from both schools which highlights that there are more places available across the two schools than children seeking first year places in the town. Regarding subject choice, each school sets its own subject offering based on resources, staffing and student interest. It’s very common for schools to differ in what they can provide. While this might affect a school of choice preference, it doesn’t affect the validity of the places available.
Furthermore, in order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas including Westport and uses a geographical information system, using data from a range of sources, including CSO census data, child benefit and school enrolment data, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise and where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and post-primary level.
My department’s NDP Sectoral Investment Plan 2026-2030 involves a very strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and prioritisation of school building projects to meet the most urgent needs. Of the total €7.55 billion investment it is envisaged that circa. €5 billion will be used for project rollout to support the delivery and modernisation of school buildings across the Large Scale, Additional Accommodation, Modular, and Annual September Accommodation Needs programmes. Over the course of 2026 and 2027 there will be construction work at circa. 10% of the school estate. These projects will, when completed, provide circa 57,000 additional and modernised school places with a strong SEN focus in all projects.
The first tranche of 105 projects covers the initial two-year period of NDP rollout. The next tranche of projects will be finalised and published afterwards (post 2027) following a stakeholder engagement process to identify the next most urgent priorities. This stakeholder engagement will be undertaken in 2026 and 2027 and will include an assessment of how well existing capacity is maximised and enrolment policies and processes are prioritising local special education provision and mainstream requirements. The Department-led Energy and Condition Survey of the school estate, which will be finalised later in 2026, will provide an additional evidence base for assessing priorities.
The criteria for identifying the first tranche of 105 prioritised projects to go to construction / tender in 2026 and 2027 included the condition of the school, projects in areas with capacity pressures, growing demographics and projects in the pipeline for a long time. The 105 prioritised projects consist of 80 large-scale and ASA (additional school accommodation) projects along with 25 projects to be delivered under the Modular Accommodation Programme. The 80 large-scale and ASA projects are estimated to cost just under €1.6bn. Further details can be found on the Department’s website www.gov.ie
My Department will continue to work with, and support, schools to ensure that there are sufficient places for all students.
