To ask the Minister of Education to detail any transformation work currently ongoing, following the publication of the latest School Population Projections, showing that pupil numbers are projected to decline by 12.7 per cent across all school phases by the 2033-2034 academic year.

Area Planning is the process of strategic planning of primary and post-primary education provision. The Department requires the statutory planning authorities (the Education Authority and the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools), working with the managing authorities and sectoral support bodies to identify future education needs and develop solutions to meet those needs on an area basis. School population projections are one of a range of data sets used to help identify future need.

Actions are and will continue to be taken to reconfigure the network of schools, in line with my Department’s priorities, through the Area Planning process. These changes are detailed in the Strategic Area Plan and associated Operational Plans and are brought forward through the statutory Development Proposal process.