Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

To reflect for a second on the various issues in regard to school ownership, the first thing I would say is that under the previous model ownership was primarily with the diocesan authorities. Under that model there is a trust involved jointly between a religious order and the education and training board, formerly the VECs, or the community schools. The predominant model was the denominational school model. We have effectively stopped that model for new schools.

The model we have now is that the Department sources the land and enters into a lease agreement with the patron. It may be land for a brand new school being established, in which case there is a process to decide on patronage, but equally it may be a school moving or expanding and needing a new piece of land. We would normally buy that land now. In exceptional circumstances the denominational body may have land they wish to provide but that is becoming very rare now, so we normally buy the land. We, therefore, have ownership of the land for the future.

In terms of releasing the interest in land that was previously held, that would generally occur where a school building is not in use any more and may no longer be needed. Generally, the Catholic Church or another church body would have ownership of it. The Department would have an interest, a lien, because of its investment and would get some repayment from the owner to release that interest. It would typically be fairly small. Typically, these cases occur with buildings that are no longer in educational use. Sometimes we waive that. Often we waive it if the building is going to continue in community use. We would generally only seek payment if the building is being sold on for further use or if it is entering into commercial use. Generally, we would not seek repayment of moneys where it was going to stay in local community use, unless it was a high figure.