A total of 20,000 primary school places in Dublin are unfilled because of a decline in the local population, the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, said yesterday.
The Minister signalled that the availability of so many school places could lead to a rationalisation in the primary sector. In particular, he hinted at the development of new school campuses in which various schools would share accommodation.
The Minister said that the Department would have to examine the way in which it sanctions new schools.
At present, he said, any group could get permission to establish a school without anyone taking the wider view of trends in society.
"People can't go on building ... empires and expect the taxpayer to provide state-of-the-art facilities," he said.
Asked about the traditional unwillingness of some Catholic schools to share sites with other schools, he said: "There is a new dynamic out there. I think school patrons are going to have to start talking to one another."
Mr Dempsey said many parents were unfussy about the particular site of a school. He said he would be looking at the question of amalgamating schools and school resources to ensure that the taxpayer and the community were getting the best possible value.
The "haphazard" way in which new schools were approved could not continue, he added.
Mr Dempsey's comments could provoke an angry response from some school management groups. School amalgamations are common at second level, where schools often pool resources.
But the system of co-operation is far less advanced at primary level.
The Department of Education is expected to bring forward new guidelines for the approval of new school projects shortly.
University heads are expected to react angrily to the Minister's decision to take a further €20 million from the third-level building programme.
The funds are being used to support the school building programme at primary and second level.
The universities have already complained about severe cutbacks in the Estimates which, they have warned, could lead to job losses.
In the Estimates, the capital budget was cut by 33 per cent for the institutes of technology and by 24 per cent for the universities. Funding for research programmes at third level was also severely cut back.