Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputies for affording me the opportunity to outline the proposals of the Department of Education and Science in respect of the provision of a new facility for Gaelscoil Chluain Meala in Clonmel, County Tipperary.

As the Deputies have said, the school opened in 1994 with provisional recognition and was granted permanent recognition in November 1995. Enrolments for the school year 2005-06 totals 211 pupils. The school is currently occupying a former school building rented from South Tipperary County Council. The cost of site and schoolroom rental is grant aided by the Department of Education and Science at the rate of 95%.

The property management section of the Office of Public Works, which purchases sites for new schools on behalf of the Department of Education and Science, was requested to explore the possibility of acquiring a site for the school. Following an advertisement placed by the OPW seeking proposals of possible sites, a number of responses were received. Six sites have been visited and their technical suitability as a location for the gaelscoil was considered.

The preferred location for the new school development is a three-acre site on the existing Tipperary Rural and Business Institute site, which is in the ownership of Tipperary Rural and Business Development Institute Limited. However, the TRDBI has proposed to the Department of Education and Science that its campus in Clonmel be relocated to a largescale technology park. Approval from the Department of Education and Science to this relocation proposal is conditional on, inter alia, the institute assisting the Department in the matter of the provision of a site for the gaelscoil.

Expressions of interest were sought by TRDBI in June 2005 from private sector property developers to determine what exactly could be provided at the technology park in exchange for the institute's current property in Clonmel. The expressions of interest sought required the incorporation of a suitable site for the gaelscoil on the current campus or on an alternative site approved by the Department of Education and Science and the Office of Public Works. The expressions of interest received by TRDBI are currently being evaluated.

Having regard to the process under way in TRDBI and the ownership of the site, it is not appropriate for me to earmark a site for the gaelscoil on the TRDBI site. When a firm decision on the future of the TRDBI site in Clonmel is made, the details of the availability of a site for the gaelscoil can be confirmed.

Meanwhile the Department of Education and Science has requested the property management section of the Office of Public Works to revisit the other remaining site options to clarify their availability and suitability.

I assure the Deputies that the permanent accommodation needs of this school are being addressed and that the provision of a permanent building for the school will be progressed in the context of the school buildings and modernisation programme when a suitable site has been acquired.

I thank Deputy Healy and Deputy Hayes again for raising this matter.

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