COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, February 14, 2022

QUESTION NO.17

QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons

To ask the chief executive what consideration is given to educational needs by SDCC planners when giving planning ?   

REPLY:

 The forward planning section are continuously liaising with the Department of Education (DoE) in relation to the need for school sites (primary and secondary) across the county. The County Development Plan team within Planning have liaised closely with the Department as part of the Development Plan process which included providing the Department with details on the growth projections for the different areas within the County. Based on that information, the Department reviewed the current school capacity and advised the development plan team of the need for school sites over the period 2022-2028. This is clearly set out in their submission to the Draft Plan and responded to in the CE Report which went to the Members on 7th December 2021.
The Department further assesses the need for additional school places as part of an ongoing nationwide demographic review (NDR). This assessment is constantly carried out in each Schools Planning Area within the County.


The DoE use a Geographical Information System (with data from the CSO, OSI and Department of Social Protection in addition to D0E’s own databases) to identify where pressure for additional primary and post-primary school places will arise and cater for same either via new schools or expansion of existing schools within the Department’s defined School planning zones. In determining secondary schools the DoE, in addition to the above data, rely on the information of primary schools and feeder schools to assess the demand by students. The assessment criteria and the DoE information is not available to SDCC or the public.


SDCC’s role in the assessment is to provide on-going details on housing completions and planning applications to inform the DoE on the housing growth in the County as part of the NDR.
Therefore, the need for school places is assessed as part of the Development Plan process which is based on the projected population growth over the Plan period and beyond. Further input is provided by SDCC to the Department through housing completion and planning applications to inform their monitoring as part of their National Demographic Review using the data outlined above.