Dear Minister Naughton,
First of all, congratulations on your appointment as a cabinet minister. It must be an incredibly proud achievement for you personally, your family and your supporters.
I am following up on the below issue that I raised with Minister McEntee. As you will aware, housing is the main issue facing this country. In that regard, the area of Glencullen-Sandyford in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, has not been found wanting. Since 2016, over 4,600 new homes have been built in this one LEA, more than any other LEA in the country. 2,506 homes were built in the whole Galway City Council area in that same time.
I’m writing to you today to highlight the school places crisis that has come over this area. A number of points to get you up to speed.
- There are 3 primary schools within the Kilternan School Planning Area. As they are long-established primary schools, none use the Department of Education’s School Planning Area as an admission criteria. I have no issue with this as the choice the schools have made reflects the parishes they were established to serve. The result though, is that schools built to cater for demand in adjacent School Planning Areas of Ballinteer-Stepaside and Sallynoggin-Killiney, are admitting children in their own SPAs, and Kilternan children are not getting a look in.
- With the growth in housing, and couples who have moved to Kilternan and the surrounding areas having children in the past few years, the number of 4 and 5 year olds now exceeds the number of junior infants places available for September 2026 in the 3 primary schools in the SPA. Schools in the adjacent SPA have also experienced unprecedented applications for junior infants. We need more primary school places in the Kilternan SPA urgently.
- There are at least two options for increasing primary school places in the Kilternan SPA. 1) urgently run a school patronage process for the Kilternan SPA, find temporary premises locally that will cater for the first junior infants uptake and secure that premises for September 2026. 2) immediately engage with the Board of Management of Our Lady of the Wayside NS who have plans in place with full planning permission that could double their September 2026 junior infants intake and provide for the future expansion of the school and proper facilities for SET and PE.
- The crisis in ASD classes is really bad in this area. You will be familiar with this from your previous role. Please include ASD classes in all future considerations for the Kilternan area.
- Secondary school places: there is no secondary school in the Kilternan School Planning Area. The nearest secondary school, Stepaside ETSS, in the Ballinteer-Stepaside SPA, has never been oversubscribed before, but this looks likely to be the last year that this happens. As per your Department’s requirements, Stepaside ETSS is required to prioritise children living in the Ballinteer-Stepaside SPA. This is effectively to the exclusion of children living in adjacent SPAs such as Kilternan. Your department previously indicated to the DLRCC Forward Planning section that there would not be a secondary school set up in Kilternan, that instead it would be set up outside the Kilternan SPA, over on the other side of the M50, on the Leopardstown Racecourse site. This is not a realistic solution for so many reasons.
- Purchase the site on Glenamuck Road designated as ED in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Development Plan 2022-2028 and the Kilternan-Glenamuck Local Area Plan 2025-2031. We have reviewed these sites and democratically agreed them. They are ready for schools to be built on. The local community will by and large be completely supportive of the development of schools on this site. In my view, based on the growing demographics in the area, 1 primary school and 1 secondary school will be needed on this site. It is 1.25km from a Luas stop, right on a bus route, mere minutes walk from the centre of the developing Kilternan village. Please start purchasing it immediately.
- Please do not wait until you see Census results. The Census will be carried out in 2026. The results will be published in 2028. Wait this long and you will be passing on the Kilternan school places crisis onto your successor. Instead, please pass on the legacy of being the Minister for Education who took this issue seriously, made an authoritative decision and directed her Department to take the necessary steps with urgency.
I am available to meet to discuss this issue with you or your officials at any time, and I’m sure the active local councillors in this area would also join this meeting to discuss the future of Kilternan school places.
Kind regards,
Oisín O’Connor
Councillor for Glencullen-Sandyford (Ballinteer, Ballyogan, Glenamuck, Glencullen, Kilternan, Leopardstown, Sandyford and Stepaside)
Green Party Spokesperson on Local Government and Planning
Phone 087 6065648
Dear local parents, thank you for reading this far and for your patience with the Kilternan school places crisis. Please considering attending this public meeting of the Kilternan Schools Campaign on Wednesday 26th November 2025 at 6.30pm at De La Salle Palmerston Rugby Club. Register your interest here.
