Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

In general with ETB schools, training centres and post-leaving certificate provision, they are owned by the ETB. There may be some occasions when they are on land owned by the Department.

Subject to finance being available, ETBs can seek funding from the Department for head offices. Any lease entered into has to be approved by the Department. In the further education area, there would be a bigger tendency to have leases because of the lack of permanency. However, we need to have a business case for any lease or purchase. Given the limits to the amount of funding available for capital, we need to be certain that there is a long-term usage requirement by an ETB to enable it to purchase properties.