School Admissions
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-12
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Charlie McConalogue (FF), Donegal

I thank Deputy Cronin for raising this matter. It gives me an opportunity to set out for the House, on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth, the position with regard to long waiting lists for post-primary school places across north Kildare.
I assure the Deputy that the provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post-primary level, including those with special educational needs, is an absolute priority of the Department. While the Department is aware of enrolment pressures and demand for additional school places in some areas, it is important to note that enrolment pressures can be driven by duplications of applications, applications from outside an area, and school of choice factors. Since 2020, the Department has invested over €397 million in school infrastructure across County Kildare. The Department is continually planning for and investing in existing and new schools in order to ensure that every child in the State has access to a school place.
In the context of post-primary enrolment pressures in north Kildare, the Department is aware of pressures for school places for the 2026-27 school year in certain areas. The data sharing arrangements that were in place for the 2025-26 admissions process have been put in place again for the 2026-27 admissions process in school planning areas that are experiencing enrolment pressures, including areas in north Kildare. The admissions data provided by schools allows the Department to analyse duplicate applications as there can be significant overlaps in areas.
On foot of this engagement, Maynooth Community College has increased its first-year intake by an additional class group relative to what was indicated on its admissions notice for 2026-27.
The Deputy will appreciate that the nature of the admissions processes is quite complex. As a result, there can be multiple iterations of offers. For 2025, based on data supplied by schools, it is estimated that there were over 4,200 first-year places available in County Kildare, with around 3,794 sixth-class pupils in the area. On this basis, the Department estimates a surplus capacity of approximately 400 places, or around 9%.
The Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. In relation to school admissions, it is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act 1998.
As the Deputy will be aware, the apply to school pilot was introduced to simplify and improve the admissions process for post-primary schools in five pilot areas, including Celbridge. The roll-out of the pilot represents a significant step towards improving the school admissions system and delivering on the programme for Government commitment to introduce a nationwide common application system. While the apply to school system facilitates the submission of a common applications system for parents, the individual schools retain responsibility for issuing offers based on these applications in accordance with their published admissions policy. The Department does not offer or hold a centralised record of offer outcomes for individual schools.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-12