The Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton, T.D., announced today the plan to establish 42 new schools over the course of the next four years, 2019 – 2022. This was prompted by national demographic exercises by the Department of Education into the current and future needs for primary and post-primary education places nationwide.
These schools will be split between primary and post-primary schools, 26 at primary level and 16 at post-primary level. Existing schools may also be expanded to accommodate increasing demand for school places in already established institutions. The minister said that the requirement for new schools will be kept under review especially in regards to the impact of the roll out of housing for the balanced regional development as set out in the governments Project Ireland 2040.
For each new school announced today, a process will be run to establish parental preference for the patronage of that school, a key determinant of the successful patron, is the preferences of parents of pre-school children in that area. Patronage processes for schools due to open in 2019 will take place this year.
The Department of Education website is also being updated in order to allow the progress of current building projects, as part of the €8.4 billion investment in school buildings under Project Ireland 2040, to be more easily accessed. You can find the progress here: Current State of Large Scale Projects
Planned New Schools 2019 – 2022
Written by Brian McGloughlin
