Department of Education plans to publish school development plans for five pilot areas this year
Conor Lally
The Government has announced a major overhaul of the schools building system under which the public and other interested parties will have an input into the location and size of new schools.
The Department of Education this year plans to publish school development plans for five pilot areas in the Republic. A public consultation period will follow before school development plans are finalised in each area. If successful the scheme will be fully rolled out.
The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, said the shake-up in the school development process means the future provision of new schools will only happen after a transparent consultation process.
"It is vital that critical decisions such as the number of schools needed in an area should not be made behind closed doors," he said.
"Parents, trustees, sponsors of prospective new schools and all interested parties from a locality will have the opportunity to have their voices heard in the process.
"The commission on school accommodation will conduct the public engagement and all submissions made to the commission by interested parties will be published.
"The process will culminate in a development plan for each area. This plan will be a public document and will be the touchstone against which all capital funding decisions for the area will be made."
The first phase of the development process will involve the Department's planning and building unit publishing a discussion paper on a target area.
That paper will contain information on the target area including the primary and post-primary spaces available and likely demand over the next 10 years.
Submissions will then be invited from interested parties. These will be published on the Internet in an effort to ensure all interested parties will be forced to argue the merits of their case "in a manner that can be tested by public scrutiny rather than have any party seek to influence either officials or Ministers privately", according to the Department.
The submissions will then be considered by the commission on school accommodation. It will draw up a draft plan and invite further submissions before finalising its development plan.
The final plan will then be submitted to the Minister as the working template against which all proposed future school developments in a target area would be tested.
The Department's planning and building unit will assess all new projects against the templates.
Mooted schemes will be amended when appropriate.
The system is to be piloted in five regions this year, with the commission to report separately on progress made in each area.
The Department of Education believes the new approach will establish a more structured, formal and pro-active model for school planning in target areas nationwide.