Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Let me be clear. We have sold to the Department of Education and Skills an eight acre site which the Department made available and which, as Deputy Ó Fearghaíl states, has been the site for the building of a fantastic new school. We also intended to transfer the rest of the site to Kildare County Council. We thought that was what the community wanted and that is what Kildare County Council said it wanted at the time, but it has changed its mind. We are anxious that the dereliction to which Deputy Ó Fearghaíl has referred would not continue. The way to do that is to ensure this site is properly developed. The site is subject to appropriate zoning through the county development plan. Obviously there are restrictions and requirements on any developer in terms of how it would be developed in the interests of community development as well as what it is a developer wants to do. The responsible thing to do at this stage is to move the matter on to try to ensure that the site, which is a valuable one and has great potential for both the local community and other uses, is developed. We need to facilitate that progression because all we have had to date is stagnation. We have an obligation to move on it.

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