To ask the Minister of Education, pursuant to AQW 8743/09 in which she stated that "The Board of Governors must compile a list of all applicants, in rank order, regardless of whether the school is their first, second or third preference", if after the point where applications are ranked by the Boards of Governors, nursery schools only have sight of the applications of those who ranked them first choice and if these are ranked in order of criteria until either the list of applicants is exhausted or the unit becomes over-subscribed.

Tá na socruithe le haghaidh iontrála chuig naíscoileanna leagtha amach i gCiorclán 2009/05 na Roinne ‘Rollú Oscailte ar Naíscoileanna: Socruithe le haghaidh Iontrálacha Mheán Fómhair 2010’. Ní mór do naíscoileanna gach iarratas le haghaidh iontrála a mheas agus glacadh le daltaí suas go dtí go mbaineann siad amach a n-uimhir rollaithe atá formheasta. I scoileanna atá ró-shuibscríofa, cuirfear foirmeacha iarratais ar fáil do dhara rogha na dtuismitheoirí i leith daltaí nár glacadh leo ar a bpríomhrogha tríd an Bhord Oideachais agus Leabharlainne.

The arrangements for admission to nursery schools are set out in The Department’s Circular Number 2009/05 ‘Open Enrolment in Nursery Schools: Arrangements for September 2010 Admissions’. Nursery schools must consider all applications for admissions and admit pupils up to their approved enrolment number. In schools which are oversubscribed, application forms for pupils who have not been accepted for admission at their first preference are made available to the parents’ second preference school via the Education and Library Board. This process is repeated for third preference schools etc. until all pupils are placed. Therefore, schools will have sight of application forms for first preference applicants plus application forms for applicants who have named the school as a lower preference but who were unsuccessful in gaining admission to other schools of their choice.

It is important to note that while the admissions process is running schools must entirely reassess the rank order established at first preference stage, when second preferences are received, in order to take account of whether any of these second preference candidates meet a higher criterion than the first preference candidates already considered. If so, these pupils would be ranked higher in the rank order established by the school, regardless of the fact that they are second preference candidates.

This process must happen regardless of whether or not the school has places available within the enrolment number at that stage in the admissions process. The school must repeat this process with every subsequent set of applications through third, fourth, fifth preference stages. A school cannot consider itself to have reached a final and conclusive rank order until all applications, regardless of preference, have been received, the school’s criteria have been applied to those candidates and the admissions process has closed. This ensures that it is the ability of an applicant to meet the school’s admission criteria which establish their position in the schools rank order, rather than the preference they have given to the school.