564. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Education and Youth the engagement that has taken place between her Department, Louth County Council, the Housing Agency and relevant utility and infrastructure providers regarding the reservation or acquisition of suitable sites for new schools in the south Dundalk area; and if she will provide details of any sites currently under consideration. [65092/26]

To ensure alignment of school provision with the rollout of additional residential development, my Department, through the various consultation phases of the Statutory Plan process, liaises with all 31 Local Authorities in respect of their County Development Plans, all associated Local Area Plans and Masterplans with a view to identifying any medium to potential long-term school place and accommodation requirements across school planning areas and with the purpose of ensuring that there is an adequate amount of appropriately zoned and suitably located sites for future school place provision, which are in line with objectives as identified in the National Planning Framework.

My Department continues to liaise with Louth County Council in respect of potential longer-term requirements for educational provision in Louth. My Department engages further on such matters with the Council through the review of the County Development Plan, preparation of Local Area Plans and other relevant statutory planning processes such as the recent Variation for long-term housing needs in the county.

In the recent variation to the Louth County Development Plan 2021–2027, which relates to future housing targets and population growth, Louth County Council outlined a housing growth requirement to 2040 of 15,093 residential units. In its submission to the variation, my Department identified the potential school place requirements arising from the population generated from the housing unit targets should they materialise. In the context of Dundalk South, it should be noted that the current Louth CDP 2021-2027 as varied has two spot objectives where land has been reserved with a "Community Facilities" zoning to potentially facilitate an extension to St. Francis Primary School and where land at the Xerox junction on the Dublin Road has been identified for the potential requirement of a school. The Department will continue to have further engagement with the Council in relation to the reservation of land for the potential school provision through the statutory plan process.

My Department also has ongoing engagements with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage Housing Activation Office in respect to planned housing activation infrastructure projects in order to ensure that potential future school sites are activated at the appropriate time to serve new and expanding communities and that the enabling infrastructure is in place in advance of the development of the schools.