Minister Harris Announces Plans to Establish new schools in Co Wicklow over the next 4 years

Wicklow TD Minister Simon Harris has today announced that 4 new schools will be built in Co Wicklow in the next 4 years. This announcement follows nationwide demographic exercises carried out by the Department of Education into the current and future need for primary and post-primary school places in the area.

Minister Harris said:
 
“We are fortunate in Wicklow to have a growing population. However, this growth puts pressure on our public services. If we are to have the best education and training system in Europe, we must ensure that we adequately prepare for this future need by planning for the necessary modern school facilities now.”
 
The Department will also continue to monitor areas where the accommodation of existing schools may need to be expanded in order  to meet the needs of the local population. Approximately 40% of extra school places are delivered by extending existing schools.
 
For each new schools, a process will be run to establish parental preference for the patronage of that school. A key determinant of the successful patron, is the preferences of parents of pre-school children in that area. Patronage processes for schools due to open in 2019 will take place this year. A new online Patronage Process system is being developed also. This new system will allow for more efficient collection and processing of parental preferences.  

“This is really fantastic news for Co Wicklow and I am pleased the Department of Education has listened to our calls for additional capacity in our local school system. These new schools will make a huge difference and I know they will be very much welcomed. The new secondary school for the Greystones area will be particularly welcomed by parent of students in Greystones Community NS who have been highlighting the need for additional capacity.”

 
“If we want to be the best in Europe, we need to make sure that we are planning for future need and providing state of the art facilities for future generations.”  
 
For each new school announced to open in 2019, a patronage process for that school will take place this year .The new online Patronage system that is being developed will make it a lot easier and more efficient for parents to register their preferred patron and their preference as to whether the new school should operate through Irish or English.”
 
The Department’s website is also being updated to ensure that the current status of existing major projects in the school building programme is set out in a more user-friendly format. The status of projects will be more regularly updated to reflect their progress as part of the €8.4 billion investment in school buildings under Project Ireland 2040.
Notes to editor
Primary schools to be established over the next 4 years (2019 to 2022)