Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Again, I want to be clear when a property becomes available, the Department will engage with the property owner, as it is right and proper. When a site becomes available, the Department will engage and do a full evaluation of the site. It will evaluate the site's positives, negatives and its potential going forward. All of that is a time consideration. Specifically on the matter of properties being available, if the property is not in the Department's ownership, then obviously arrangements need to be made with the property owner. Our key priority is to ensure there is provision of appropriate space for our students, staff and school community. As I referenced earlier, it is not always easy to find an appropriate site, that is, one that will meet not just the current demands but also the future ones. Thus, in some instances we must make short-term arrangements to facilitate a longer or greater vision we have going forward. In this instance we are doing that but we ultimately have the longer objective and longer view of providing a permanent site.

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