School Accommodation
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-04
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Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West

I thank the Deputy and welcome the opportunity to speak on St. Marnock's National School in Portmarnock, County Dublin. The Deputy has been liaising with the Department in relation to this issue.
The school is under the patronage of the Archdiocese of Dublin and is in the Portmarnock school planning area. Last September, the school had an enrolment of 638 pupils and 26 mainstream teachers, three special class teachers, one learning support teacher, one administrative deputy principal, seven special education tutors and one shared special education tuition post.
To plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a geographical information system using data from a range of sources, including the Central Statistics Office, CSO, census data, child benefit and school enrolment data, to identify where the pressures for school places across the country will arise and where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and post-primary levels. The Department produces demographic projections based primarily on the child benefit data, which is made available from the Department of Social Protection. It addresses details for all children aged from birth to five years living in the State and in receipt of child benefit. This is used as a basis for projection of future junior infant intake at primary level. The data provides the overview for future school place demand. The child benefit data is then adjusted with localised data on the age of the first enrolment to account for patterns of movement where children are known to typically cross school planning area boundaries to enrol in schools. A huge amount of data is being gathered from the Department of Social Protection and elsewhere to identify where the challenges are.
As regards the issue the Deputy raised, Portmarnock's school planning area has five primary schools. The demographic analysis for primary level shows projections for Portmarnock will peak in 2027. Furthermore, the actual 2025-26 enrolments for Portmarnock's special planning area were less than were projected for the 2025-26 school year. While the Department is aware of the enrolment pressures and the demand for additional school places in some areas, including Portmarnock, it is important to note that enrolment pressures can be driven by a number of issues.
To return to the issue the Deputy raised, I know from his engagement and the engagement of others with the Department, and from a number of families I know from the area who have been engaging, that there are huge challenges. Portmarnock is one of the areas of the country where there is huge growth. The Deputy mentioned housing estates being developed and the number of children in particular estates. We are acutely aware of that. I assure the Deputy that the Department is keeping a very close eye on the matter. It is continuously looking at where the pressures are. In the 2025-26 school year, there are 7,000 fewer primary school students in the system than there were in the 2024-25 school year. I accept that that is of little benefit to Portmarnock, an area in which the population is growing enormously. I assure the Deputy that we will monitor this very carefully and try to do what we need to do.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-04/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:43+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-04