Minister confident Govt will cope with 83k rise in pupil numbers

The Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe has said he is confident that the Government can cope with the massive surge in demand for primary school places, that been predicted over the next 10 years.

The Department of Education is forecasting that with the record rise in population, the number of children attending primary school will increase by 83,000 by 2020.

The department is working out how to accommodate the number of school places needed.

Mr O'Keeffe said he is confident there will not be a repeat of what happened in north Dublin two years ago.

Mr O'Keeffe said: "As you know about two years ago we had Balbriggan - we had 100 pupils, no classroom. Last year we got it absolutely right - there was no child without a classroom, without a teacher.

"We're confident when you see the configuration that's available there (and with) the amount of data that's being put together, we have a very good analysis of where the growth areas are going to be."