Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator and acknowledge his very positive and proactive engagement regarding all issues in the education sector in his constituency. He has been particularly vocal regarding this matter. I acknowledge his positive engagement and interaction with me. He is personally invested in seeing this advance.

I appreciate having the opportunity to update the Senator on where we are at in this point in time. The site acquisition process has been progressed in respect of the requirement in question and in line with standard acquisition protocols, as the Senator will appreciate. The Department is liaising closely with Wexford County Council under the memorandum of understanding for the acquisition of school sites, with a view to securing a suitable site for Gorey Educate Together Secondary School. The Department has engaged the services of a site acquisition manager in order to shortlist potential sites.

Following an extensive site identification and assessment exercise to identify a permanent site location for Gorey Educate Together Secondary School, a number of site options have been identified and investigated by the Department, in conjunction with, as the Senator referenced, officials from Wexford County Council. As part of our standard general procedures following technical assessments of the site options, valuations were carried out on a number of preferred site options.

Negotiations are ongoing with the landowner of one of the preferred options. However, these negotiations have proven to be protracted to date despite the best efforts of officials in the Department of Education. The Department is now opening negotiations with a landowner of another of the preferred site options. The Senator will appreciate that commercial sensitivities are attached to site acquisitions such as this. Given that negotiations are at a critical point, I am not currently in a position to disclose further information in regard to that. I assure him that the work is ongoing, has priority and will be continue to be prioritised by the Department. Should agreement on the proposed acquisition be reached, the process will advance to the conveyancing stage when draft contracts are prepared and legal due diligence is undertaken in respect of the proposed transaction.

I thank Senator Byrne for giving me the opportunity to address the issue and I assure him that the school authorities will be kept apprised of the situation and informed of a permanent location for the school as soon as it is possible to do so. I again assure him that this is a priority for the Department.