Department of Education responds to Limerick children not being offered secondary school places

THE DEPARTMENT of Education says it's working on a "contingency plan" to ensure no Limerick child is left without a secondary school place next year.

It comes after it emerged some 26 city youngsters moving up from primary school in September will not be formally offered a place.

It comes due to the fact schools in the urban area and the suburbs are at capacity.

Under the Common Application System unique to Limerick, which sees all city schools, and two rural schools - in Croom and Pallaskenry - make their offers together, students were due to be contacted today.

However, for 26 local families, it will be a tense time, as they will hear tomorrow that they have unfortunately not been allocated a school place.

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A spokesperson for the Department of Education - which put out a warning over the issue last month - said engagement has taken place with Limerick Education Centre and school patrons.

They pointed out that city schools have already upped their places by more than 100, including 44 new spots made available in the last week.

This, they say, has brought the number of refusal letters down from 70.

"It is expected that some students who have been offered places instead accept places in other non-city schools. It is likely that this will free up places that will meet the needs of some or all of the students currently without a place. Nevertheless, the Department is working with school patrons to put a contingency solution in place to ensure that there are sufficient places available in the city. There will be further clarity on this in the coming weeks. Families can be assured that any necessary solution will be delivered so that all of the children currently without a place can be accommodated," the spokesperson pledged.

The explosion in demand for school places is likely to peak in the next year or two, the department has said.

It's being blamed on what's been described as a "demographic bulge" moving through the education system.

On top of this, some 1,000 Ukrainian children who have come to Ireland to escape from their homeland's conflict with Russia will transfer from primary to secondary this year.

The common application system was introduced in 2005 by the then Education Minister Noel Dempsey.

It followed controversy over the exclusion each year of a small but significant number of children, in hopes the system would prevent them being passed over.

Chair of the Limerick principal and deputy principals association Eoin Shinners, who heads the new Educate Together school set for Castletroy, told RTE News that many of this year's applications had come from localities outside of the city.

He said he was confident that more capacity would be freed up as rural children offered places opt instead to attend schools closer to where they live.

He said the Department of Education had been informed about the capacity problem and the issue would be discussed with the department "should we have a situation where the 26, or some of them, don't receive a place in a school".