Patronage of 12 new primary schools opening in 2019 revealed
The patronage of 12 new primary schools which are set to open this year have been announced.
Seven schools will be run by Educate Together in counties Cork, Dublin and Wicklow.
Three schools will be run by local Education and Training Boards while two gaelscoils will be under the patronage of An Foras Pátrúnachta.
The Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh made the announcement today after he accepted the recommendations of the New Schools Establishment Group (NSEG) which were made in April 2018.
The new schools will serve a number of areas around the country which are facing pressures for places for pupils.
The multidenominational schools under the patronage of Educate Together will be open to families in Glasheen, Cork City; Leixlip, Co Kildare; Kilcoole/Newtownmountkennedy in Co Wicklow; and in Dublin: Donaghmede/Howth/Dublin 13; Dublin 6/6W/Clonskeagh; Goatstown/Stillorgan; Killester/Raheny/Clontarf.
Those State-run schools under the remit of local education boards will be in north and south Swords in Dublin, as well as in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath.
Maynooth, Co Kildare and the Booterstown/Blackrock areas of Dublin will host the two gaelscoils.
Nine of the primary schools will be "eight classroom" schools, while three of the Educate Together schools in Donaghmede/Howth/Dublin 13, Dublin 6/6W/Clonskeagh, and Goatstown/Stillorgan will be double that size.
Once they are fully developed, the schools will have the capacity to provide places for 3,328 children.
Minister McHugh said the new schools are an essential part of the plans to ensure that sufficient new places are available to serve the increasing number of primary-level pupils in the coming years.
He said that additional places will also continue to be provided under the Six-Year Programme of Capital Investment in Schools for 2016-2021.
“Parental preference has become a key determinant in deciding the patronage of new schools and I’m pleased to say that the views of parents as expressed through the process are strongly reflected in the decisions I have made on the patronage of these 12 new schools," he said.
I am particularly conscious of the clear parental demand for diversity of provision in all of the areas where the new schools are being established. I would like to thank parents for engaging with the process.
"All applications were assessed on the basis of published criteria, including the extent of diversity in existing schools and the scale of diversity to be provided by the new school or schools.," he said.
The Department of Education and Skills said that the primary schools will be established in interim accommodation while permanent buildings are put in place.
A project manager has been appointed by the department to assist in the procurement of interim school accommodation for the schools opening in September 2019.
