Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. As a Minister of State in the relevant Department, I am acutely aware of the predicament in which that school community finds itself. I take this opportunity to inform the House that I am not going to read directly from the prepared script.

As I understand it, the Firhouse Educate Together school was established to service a specific demographic demand within the Firhouse area. The Senator referred to the South Dublin County Council plan, etc., and in that context, the school should ideally have a permanent home within or as close to the geographical area in which it is currently located as possible in order to meet people's needs. A process is ongoing whereby officials from the Department of Education and Skills are working with their counterparts in South Dublin County Council in order to acquire a suitable site. In the context of the Department's geographical information system and analysis, the Ballycullen-Oldcourt area is considered a separate and distinct geographical area. The local area plan for Ballycullen-Oldcourt refers to the planned future additional population. This means that the area will have educational infrastructural requirements in its own right should the planned housing developments for it materialise.

I am given to understand that the process relating to identifying and acquiring a site for Firhouse Educate Together is ongoing. The Senator indicated that she previously raised this matter last November. It has been my experience that the process of acquiring land tends to be open-ended in nature. It is very difficult, for example, to put in place sunset clauses in respect of the acquisition of land or to disregard the commercial sensitivities involved. The process is ongoing and due to the kind of commercial sensitivities to which I refer, it is not possible to provide further information at this time. I am sure the Senator has heard that before and I do not wish to offer her any platitudes in respect of this issue. I am aware, however, from my dealings with the officials in the Department, that when interacting with local authorities, there is a process which must be undergone. The process is not seamless and can involve many twists and turns. That will come as no comfort to Senator Keane in the context of her attempts to represent the interests of the people who made representations to her. I assure her that I will raise the matter with the relevant officials in the Department and that I will exert as much pressure as possible in the context of establishing the current position.