Department insistent on relocating school for this Easter despite chaos caused to parents
This update 31st January, 2025
New building under construction off Thomas Omer Way
The announcement before Christmas that Lucan East Educate Together National School is to be relocated to a new site off Thomas Omer Way (beside Kishoge CC) this Easter caused a lot of alarm. I immediately wrote to the then-Minister for Education but received nothing more than a holding response.
I also submitted a number of parliamentary questions and these were finally taken after the election of the new Taoiseach.
The responses to these are listed below as one amalgamated reply. Separate to this I have queried traffic management measures at the site with SDCC on a number of occasions. Needless to say it is not ideal to move the school this Easter and I will be trying to follow up in the next week or so.
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Minister Reply:
∙My Department and the NCSE work closely in relation to advance planning for new special school requirements. This work was primarily done in the latter half of 2024 in respect of the 5 new special schools that are due to be established for the 2025/26 school years.
∙ Updates in relation to this work are set out in press releases that were published by my Department in October and December 2024. As part of these works there is preparatory work done on identifying opportunities for repurposing existing accommodation which in the Department’s experience is the most efficient method for facilitating the opening of new special schools.
∙ The decision to repurpose the Lucan East ETNS school to facilitate the establishment of the new special school to provide much needed special school provision in the Lucan area was confirmed by the Minister in the press release issued on the 10th of December and this position was notified to the patron and school at the time.
∙Lucan East ETNS will move from their current location to the new school building that is nearing completion in Kishogue over Easter 2025, with students returning to the new school following the Easter midterm break.
∙The new school for Lucan ETNS is well located to continue to serve its existing catchment area, which has a reducing demand over the medium term, while also starting to meet the increasing demand from the new residential area in Clonburris. The relocation of Lucan East ETNS does not affect the Department’s plans for further school development in the Clonburris area and the Department will continue to monitor demand brought by demographic need when addressing school capacity.
∙ The school in Kishogue is a new state of the art 16 classroom primary school with 2 Special Education Needs (SEN) classrooms, external hard and soft play areas, new SEN soft play equipment, a secure junior play area, two ballcourts, and 118 bicycle rack units that meets all the Department’s modern technical guidance documents and decarbonisation requirements.
∙As part of its forward planning, my Department has identified the need for a new special school to be established in the Lucan area for the 2025/26 school year. This will be a very important local facility for families and children in the Lucan area who require a school place in a special school.
∙My Department considers that this need can be best met through the Lucan East ETNS school moving to the new school building that is nearing completion in Kishogue and for the existing school building at Lucan East to be re-purposed to facilitate the establishment of the new special school.
∙The new school building in Kishogue is due to be completed by Easter 2025. This will enable my Department to re-purpose the existing building in advance of the opening of the new special school; for the 2025/26 school year.
∙ The Clonburris area is planned to deliver 10,000 new homes that will accommodate 23,000 people. Development has started on these homes and the demand for primary school places is starting to materialise.
∙ The new school for Lucan East ETNS is well located to continue to serve its existing catchment area, which has a reducing demand over the medium term, while also starting to meet the increasing demand from the new residential area in Clonburris. The new location is also better positioned to facilitate expansion opportunities into the future.
∙ The relocation of Lucan East ETNS does not affect the Department’s plans for further school development in the Clonburris area and the Department will continue to monitor demand brought about my demographic need when addressing school capacity.
∙ My Department considers that this need can be best met through the Lucan East ETNS school moving to the new school building that is nearing completion in Kishogue and for the existing school building at Lucan East to be re-purposed to facilitate the establishment if the new special school.
∙ The new school building in Kishogue is due to be completed by Easter 2025. This will enable my Department to re-purpose the existing building in advance of the opening of the new special school for the 2025/26 school year.
∙ In the case of the new special school being established in the Lucan area, an assessment of the wider demographic requirements at primary level was carried out. The decision to relocate Lucan East ETNS was made in the wider context of the demographic need for school places in the area. The demographic profile of the Lucan area has changed since Lucan East ETNS was established, and the demand for school places in the current location is decreasing. Due to the changes in the demographic profile, the residential area where Lucan East ETNS is currently located (between the R120 & R136 roads) has a high level of primary school provision relative to the population of primary school children in the area. Therefore, pupils are travelling into this area to attend primary school. The latest primary school enrolment data informs us that over 50% of the current enrolment come from outside this area and more than a third are travelling from East of the R136 ‘Grange Castle Road’.
∙ The Clonburris area is planned to deliver over 10,000 new homes that will accommodate 23,000 people. Development has started on these homes and the demand for primary school places is starting to materialise. Relocating Lucan East ETNS will help address this imbalance by providing school accommodation closer to where the demand is located in a sustainable manner.
∙ The new school is on a larger, better shaped site than the existing Lucan East site and has better capacity for future expansion which will be important going forward. This site will benefit from an adjacent park/green space greenway linking to the future residential development.
∙The design for the school site factors in a controlled pedestrian crossing, footpaths, pedestrian walkways, and cycle tracks to support and facilitate active travel arrangements. In relation to vehicular access, all vehicles will access the site via a new junction arrangement on the Thomas Omer Way which will involve a dedicated right hand turn lane. The site also contains a turning circle. There are also set down areas allocated within the site which are suited for car and bus set down.
∙ The issue raised in relation to traffic wardens comes within the remit of South Dublin County Council (SDCC). However, my Department will support any application made by the school to SDCC for a traffic warden at the new location and have contacted SDCC outlining the Department’s support for such an application. SDCC have advised the Department that an assessment of the location of the new school will be carried out in early 2025 with a view to establishing if there is need for, and if there is a suitable location for an assisted crossing.
∙ My Department will be working closely with the patron and school authority on the practical arrangements for the relocation.
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Questions tabled:
226. Deputy Paul Gogarty asked the Minister for Education when a school was first notified formally or informally of proposals to move to a premises off Thomas Omer Way; and if she will make a statement on the matter. (Lucan East Educate Together). [1039/25]
571. Deputy Paul Gogarty asked the Minister for Education further to correspondence, the reason a current school site is no longer suitable for a school and if she will make a statement on the matter. Lucan East Education Together National School: given that any demographics and projected population rises in the Clonburris SDZ will not kick in for several years, given the four ET schools have not had time to start adjusting their common enrolment system which includes geographic location of applicants among its enrolment calculations. [1040/25]
572. Deputy Gogarty asked the Minister for Education if she will consider deferring the proposal move of a school to the site off Thomas Omer Way until 2027; and if she will make a statement on the matter. Lucan East Educate Together, given that the four schools involved in the common enrolment scheme need to adjust their calculations; given that many parents applying in September would have been allocated different schools for their children based on their address if this had been announced earlier; given the massive disruption and inconvenience in terms of work and childcare arrangements a mid-year changeover entails; given the inadequate road and traffic management system that currently exists along Thomas Omer Way, with several accidents involving second-level pupils attending adjacent schools, and a considerable lead-in time required for SDCC to address this in a meaningful way. [1041/25]
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Full Individual PQ Responses:
Minister Reply: 1039/25
∙My Department and the NCSE work closely in relation to advance planning for new special school requirements. This work was primarily done in the latter half of 2024 in respect of the 5 new special schools that are due to be established for the 2025/26 school years.
∙ Updates in relation to this work are set out in press releases that were published by my Department in October and December 2024. As part of these works there is preparatory work done on identifying opportunities for repurposing existing accommodation which in the Department’s experience is the most efficient method for facilitating the opening of new special schools.
∙ In the case of the new special school being established in the Lucan area, this work also involved an assessment of the wider demographic requirements at primary level.
∙ The decision to repurpose the Lucan East ETNS school to facilitate the establishment of the new special school to provide much needed special school provision in the Lucan area was confirmed by the Minister in the press release issued on the 10th of December and this position was notified to the patron and school at the time.
∙Lucan East ETNS will move from their current location to the new school building that is nearing completion in Kishogue over Easter 2025, with students returning to the new school following the Easter midterm break.
∙The new school for Lucan ETNS is well located to continue to serve its existing catchment area, which has a reducing demand over the medium term, while also starting to meet the increasing demand from the new residential area in Clonburris. The relocation of Lucan East ETNS does not affect the Department’s plans for further school development in the Clonburris area and the Department will continue to monitor demand brought by demographic need when addressing school capacity.
∙ The school in Kishogue is a new state of the art 16 classroom primary school with 2 Special Education Needs (SEN) classrooms, external hard and soft play areas, new SEN soft play equipment, a secure junior play area, two ballcourts, and 118 bicycle rack units that meets all the Department’s modern technical guidance documents and decarbonisation requirements.
∙My Department will be working closely with the patron and school authority on the practical arrangements for the relocation.
Minister Reply: 1040/25
∙As part of its forward planning, my Department has identified the need for a new special school to be established in the Lucan area for the 2025/26 school year. This will be a very important local facility for families and children in the Lucan area who require a school place in a special school.
∙My Department considers that this need can be best met through the Lucan East ETNS school moving to the new school building that is nearing completion in Kishogue and for the existing school building at Lucan East to be re-purposed to facilitate the establishment of the new special school.
∙The new school building in Kishogue is due to be completed by Easter 2025. This will enable my Department to re-purpose the existing building in advance of the opening of the new special school; for the 2025/26 school year.
∙ In the case of the new special school being established in the Lucan area, an assessment of the wider demographic requirements at primary level was carried out. The decision to relocate Lucan East ETNS was made in the wider context of the demographic need for school places in the area. The demographic profile of the Lucan area has changed since Lucan East ETNS was established, and the demand for school.
∙ The area surrounding the new school has a younger demographic profile, and a higher associated demand for primary school places in the start to medium term.
∙ The Clonburris area is planned to deliver 10,000 new homes that will accommodate 23,000 people. Development has started on these homes and the demand for primary school places is starting to materialise.
∙ The new school for Lucan East ETNS is well located to continue to serve its existing catchment area, which has a reducing demand over the medium term, while also starting to meet the increasing demand from the new residential area in Clonburris. The new location is also better positioned to facilitate expansion opportunities into the future.
∙ The relocation of Lucan East ETNS does not affect the Department’s plans for further school development in the Clonburris area and the Department will continue to monitor demand brought about my demographic need when addressing school capacity.
∙ Lucan East ETNS will move from their current location to the new school building that is nearing completion in Kishogue over Easter 2025, with students returning to the new school following the Easter midterm break.
∙ My Department will be working closely with the patron and school authority on the practical arrangements for the relocation.
Minister Reply: 1041/25
∙As part of my Department’s forward planning, it has identified the need for a new special school to be established in the Lucan area for the 2025/26 school year. This will be a very important local facility for families and children in the Lucan area who require a school place in a special school.
∙ My Department considers that this need can be best met through the Lucan East ETNS school moving to the new school building that is nearing completion in Kishogue and for the existing school building at Lucan East to be re-purposed to facilitate the establishment if the new special school.
∙ The new school building in Kishogue is due to be completed by Easter 2025. This will enable my Department to re-purpose the existing building in advance of the opening of the new special school for the 2025/26 school year.
∙ In the case of the new special school being established in the Lucan area, an assessment of the wider demographic requirements at primary level was carried out. The decision to relocate Lucan East ETNS was made in the wider context of the demographic need for school places in the area. The demographic profile of the Lucan area has changed since Lucan East ETNS was established, and the demand for school places in the current location is decreasing. Due to the changes in the demographic profile, the residential area where Lucan East ETNS is currently located (between the R120 & R136 roads) has a high level of primary school provision relative to the population of primary school children in the area. Therefore, pupils are travelling into this area to attend primary school. The latest primary school enrolment data informs us that over 50% of the current enrolment come from outside this area and more than a third are travelling from East of the R136 ‘Grange Castle Road’.
∙ The area surrounding the new school has a younger demographic profile, and a higher associated demand for primary school places in the short to medium term.
∙ The Clonburris area is planned to deliver over 10,000 new homes that will accommodate 23,000 people. Development has started on these homes and the demand for primary school places is starting to materialise. Relocating Lucan East ETNS will help address this imbalance by providing school accommodation closer to where the demand is located in a sustainable manner.
∙The new school for Lucan East ETNS is well located to continue to serve its existing catchment area, which has a reducing demand over the medium term, while also starting to meet the increasing demand from the new residential area in Clonburris.
∙ The relocation of Lucan East ETNS does not affect the Department’s plans for further school development in the Clonburris area and the Department will continue to monitor demand brought about by demographic need when addressing school capacity.
∙ The new school is on a larger, better shaped site than the existing Lucan East site and has better capacity for future expansion which will be important going forward. This site will benefit from an adjacent park/green space greenway linking to the future residential development.
∙The design for the school site factors in a controlled pedestrian crossing, footpaths, pedestrian walkways, and cycle tracks to support and facilitate active travel arrangements. In relation to vehicular access, all vehicles will access the site via a new junction arrangement on the Thomas Omer Way which will involve a dedicated right hand turn lane. The site also contains a turning circle. There are also set down areas allocated within the site which are suited for car and bus set down.
∙ The issue raised in relation to traffic wardens comes within the remit of South Dublin County Council (SDCC). However, my Department will support any application made by the school to SDCC for a traffic warden at the new location and have contacted SDCC outlining the Department’s support for such an application. SDCC have advised the Department that an assessment of the location of the new school will be carried out in early 2025 with a view to establishing if there is need for, and if there is a suitable location for an assisted crossing.
ENDS
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