Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to update the House on the site acquisition for Gaelscoil an Chaisleáin and Le Chéile Secondary School in Ballincollig, whose building projects are included in the Department's capital programme. Under the memorandum of understanding in place between the Department and local authorities, officials in my Department are working with Cork City Council on the identification and acquisition of suitable sites for the two schools.

Gaelscoil an Chaisleáin opened in September 2017 in temporary accommodation on Ballincollig Rugby Football Club's grounds. Additional temporary accommodation was provided to the school for the 2020-21 school year. A new 16-classroom school will be provided when a suitable site has been acquired. Following a recent patronage determination process, Le Chéile Secondary School was established and is due to open this September in temporary accommodation at Ballincollig GAA.

As the Deputy mentioned, the identification of suitable sites for schools in Cork has proven challenging for the Department and Cork City Council. In 2016, a potential site was identified as most suitable for Gaelscoil an Chaisleáin. However, it was not possible to progress the acquisition at the time because access to the site had to be established. Subsequently, the Department was advised that the land had since gone to probate and, therefore, the acquisition process could not proceed. In 2018, the need for a 1,000-pupil post-primary school for Ballincollig was identified and sites to accommodate the two schools were sought. In 2019, two further sites were identified, but one of them has been identified by the council as a future cemetery and the other proved unsuitable following technical assessment. Another site suitable for a campus was identified in 2020, but the landowner is proving an unwilling vendor. Further discussions were held in 2020 by the Department with Cork City Council regarding the urgent need for a site to accommodate the campus.

Two further sites have been identified this year, one for each school. The Deputy will be glad to hear that negotiations with the landowner of one of these sites recently commenced. The other site has just been valued and the next stage will be to commence negotiations with the landowner. A significant number of potential site options have been identified. Each of these has been technically assessed. This assessment required the consideration of complex technical issues in conjunction with Cork city and county councils. However, for reasons of suitability, availability or unwillingness on behalf of the vendor, the acquisition of a suitable site has proved difficult.

I have noted the Deputy's remarks, including about the five-year timeframe. I join him in wishing Ms Barrett, the principal of Le Chéile Secondary School, the best of luck for the future. I acknowledge his remarks that the acquisition of any site is not easy. The process of identifying a suitable site takes time. There are various ways of doing that. The site must go through a technical assessment, a valuation must be performed and negotiations need to proceed. Even when there is agreement, due diligence needs to take place. There are a number of necessary steps in acquiring a site.

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