Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 7 July 2022
Public Accounts Committee
2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Education
2018 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 7 - Purchase of Sites for School Provision
2019 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 8 - Management of the Schools Estate
9:30 am
Mr. Hubert Loftus:
We have our guideline on size. It is 2 to 5 acres at primary and 8 to 11 acres at post-primary level. That gives us a general picture. That is a guideline but we have to adjust it, where needed, to meet the particular requirements. For argument's sake, when we look at a 1,000-pupil school, that is a big building of some 10,000 sq. m or 11,000 sq. m., if we put a four-classroom special needs unit in with that. It is quite a big entity. We put in ball courts and then it is about what the available area is. If there is an area there, it is left as a grass area.