Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 439: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will consider introducing legislation, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government that will allow land for schools to be purchased at agricultural rates by means of a compulsory purchase order. [27737/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that the provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2000 do not place any onus on developers to provide school sites other than at market rates. I am keeping an open mind as to whether legislative change might be of assistance or prove the best way forward here. Any changes in this area would require careful consideration in the context of constitutional protection for private property and in weighing up how any reduction in the price per acre of any land given for schools development might impact on the unit costs and affordability of houses developed on the remaining lands.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 440: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will consider introducing legislation, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government that will ensure that housing developments over a certain number within a certain land bank will require land for schools to be provided as part of the planning process free of charge; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27738/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I am conscious of the pressures being placed on education providers in areas of major population growth. To this end my Department is prioritising the provision of new and enhanced educational facilities in these areas. The prioritisation criteria, which were recently revised in consultation with the education partners, allocate a top priority, band 1, rating to school building projects in such areas.

My Department is included among the prescribed authorities to which local authorities are statutorily obliged to send draft development plans or proposed variations to development plans for comment. As a matter of course meetings are arranged with local authorities to establish the location, scale and pace of any major proposed developments and sites are reserved, where necessary, to ensure as far as possible the timely delivery of any required education infrastructure.

Furthermore, under the provisions of the strategic development zones, SDZ, it is generally the position that sites must be reserved for schools and also that the schools must be developed in line with the housing and other developments. In addition, the school planning section of my Department is working proactively with some local authorities to explore the possibility of the development of school provision in tandem with the development of community facilities. This enhanced co-operation has the effect of minimising my Department's land requirements and thus reducing site costs while at the same time providing local communities with new schools with enhanced facilities.

With regard to the provision of free sites for school infrastructure, the Deputy will be aware that the provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2000 do not place any onus on developers to provide school sites other than at market rates. I am keeping an open mind as to whether legislative change might be of assistance or prove the best way forward here. Any changes in this area would require careful consideration in the context of constitutional protection for private property and in weighing up how any reduction in the price per acre of any land given for schools development might impact on the unit costs and affordability of houses developed on the remaining lands.