Five new schools given approval

Five new schools have been approved for growing populations in Dublin’s commuter belt.

Three facilities run by Educate Together and two gaelscoileanna by the Foras Patrunachta organisation are to be opened over the next two years to meet increasing demand.

There are no new Catholic schools in the list from the Department of Education.

Educate Together will open multi-denominational schools in the suburbs of Blanchardstown west and Mulhuddart this September and Ashbourne, Co Meath in 2012.

An Foras Patrunachta, which runs gaelscoileanna, will open an multi-denominational school in Ashbourne in September and another in Mulhuddart next year.

Outgoing Tánaiste Mary Coughlan, who lost her Dáil seat in the election, signed off on approving the schools last week.

A spokesman for Foras Patrunachta said it has had an application in the department for a gaelscoil in the wider Tyrellstown-Mulhuddart area since 2007.

It also claimed 40% of parents who applied for their children to attend the school were born outside Ireland.

“The Foras Patrunachta feeling is that there should be provision of gaelscoileanna or Irish medium education throughout the country,” the spokesman said.

“The current system focusing on demographics does not answer or meet the needs of parents.”

No commitment has been given to either organisation to put up permanent buildings with classes being housed in temporary prefab units.

A spokesman for Educate Together welcomed the announcement but added: “Three schools opening this year is kind of the minimum they can get away with.

“Our planning and our figures all shows there will be a need for much more opening of schools next year.”

Educate Together runs 58 schools nationwide with about half in the greater Dublin area. It has opened 19 in the past five years.

Foras Patrunachta has 58 primary schools and three secondary schools under its patronage.

The department said officials were assessing population growth and enrolment numbers before announcing any further school openings.

“It is not planned to open any other new primary schools in 2011,” a spokeswoman said.

“The question of the need for additional new primary schools in 2012 and in subsequent years is being examined further having regard to school enrolments and changing demographics across areas of population growth.”