Department of Education shuts door on new secondary school for north Wicklow

By Hugh O'Farrell Walsh, The Wicklow People

The Department of Education has effectively closed the door on the prospect of a new post primary school for Newtownmountkennedy, concluding that demographic pressures in the wider Kilcoole school planning area do not justify an additional school, and that existing regional provision will be sufficient to meet demand.

In a written parliamentary reply to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore, Education Minister Hildegarde Naughton set out a detailed defence of the department’s modelling, arguing that enrolments have remained static, despite earlier projections of growth, and that expanded capacity in Kilcoole and Greystones will meet the needs of the fast‑growing town.

The minister said the department’s demographic projections had anticipated an increase in demand for post primary places in the Kilcoole school planning area, peaking in 2033. However, she said those increases “have not yet materialised” and that enrolments have remained flat.

This, she argued, underpins the department’s view that there is no unmet demand that would warrant establishing a new school in Newtownmountkennedy. The department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses census data, child benefit records, enrolment figures and local authority housing information to model future demand.

In this case, the Kilcoole area, which includes Newtownmountkennedy, is not showing the level of growth that would trigger a new school.

The reply comes against the backdrop of sustained political pressure for a new post primary school in Newtownmountkennedy, one of the fastest growing towns in the county. Councillors and TDs have repeatedly warned that local school capacity is lagging behind housing delivery.

Despite this, the department’s position remains that new schools are only established in areas of “significant population increase”, where existing provision cannot be expanded. Minister Naughton reiterated that the government’s policy is to prioritise the expansion of existing schools, rather than building new ones, in line with Project Ireland 2040’s emphasis on compact growth.

In this case, the department is relying on two regional solutions: Coláiste Chraobh Aobhann in Kilcoole and Greystones Community College.

Coláiste Chraobh Aobhann, located 4km from Newtownmountkennedy, is already undergoing a major expansion.

The minister confirmed that the project, which will increase the school’s capacity to 1,000 pupils and include a six‑class special educational needs (SEN) base, was approved to proceed to construction earlier this year and that mobilisation on site began on April 20.

Greystones Community College, 6.5km away, was established as a regional school serving both Greystones and the Kilcoole planning area. Together, the department says, these schools will have “sufficient capacity to cater for all pupils in Kilcoole seeking a post primary school place, allowing for population growth due to planned new residential developments”.

The department’s modelling also shows that the number of children of post primary age in the Kilcoole planning area is “less than 1,000” and that long-term demand is not projected to increase significantly, even when new housing is factored in.

However, the reply also contains an acknowledgement that demand in high growth urban areas can be significantly higher than the school planning area average.

Newtownmountkennedy fits that description, but the department does not apply that logic to justify a new school. Instead, it maintains that the expanded Kilcoole and Greystones schools will absorb any additional pressure.