Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has said a wide choice of schools has worked well in his "ethnically diverse" constituency.

Mr Varadkar, who represents Dublin West, was responding to The Irish Times' report that the majority of immigrant children are concentrated in 23 per cent of schools.

"I've a very ethnically diverse constituency and what's worked well there is school choice. There are traditional parish schools, there are a lot of Educate Together schools, we now have community national schools," he said.

"I suppose ... maybe one of the advantages of urban areas is that you can have school choice. That's not as simple in other parts of the country but like I say I live in a very diverse constituency and whether it's a Catholic parish school or Church of Ireland school or an Educate Together school they integrate together very well."

The Minister was speaking at the launch of a new innovation centre for personalised cardiovascular care developed by The Heartbeat Trust.