Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Land has been acquired as a result of my Department and Fingal County Council working in partnership over the past number of years. The focus is on finalising arrangements for sites needed for the next school year.

The innovations in the design and delivery of school buildings put in place in recent years mean that once the land has been acquired, we can provide school accommodation quickly. While Fingal County Council is working on the acquisition of sites, my Department has tendered for a contractor capable of delivering new schools within an on-site construction time of four months. My Department has been in regular contact with local authority staff regarding the status of the sites we have asked them to acquire.

Last September, I met the council manager and others to discuss progress. While the meeting gave rise to considerable media attention, it was not the start of the co-operation between the Department and the council, which has been ongoing for some time. Two years ago, the Department and the council agreed to develop a new model of partnership for providing school and community facilities. Under the terms of the Fingal school agreement, the local authority has undertaken to identify and acquire appropriate sites for schools as recommended by the Department. The design of the schools will be varied to meet community needs, including enhanced facilities, etc.

As site acquisitions can be commercially sensitive, my Department does not generally provide specific details in advance of contracts being signed. Once the contracts have been signed, the information can be released in the normal way.

While the scale of the work under way in Fingal is extensive because of rapid population growth in that area, my Department has developed much closer working relations generally with local authorities in recent years, particularly in rapidly developing areas. In addition to meeting the Fingal County Council manager, I met the county managers of Meath and Kildare and am arranging to meet the managers of South Dublin County Council and Westmeath County Council to follow up on what is required in terms of planning. I met the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to discuss how the programme for Government commitments in respect of school planning and land acquisition can be progressed.

See this speech in context