Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 228: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the progress which has been made in providing a permanent school for a school (details supplied) which is in temporary premises since 1994; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25221/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Property Management Section of the Office of Public Works, which purchases sites for new schools, was requested by my Department to explore the possibility of acquiring a site for the school to which the Deputy refers. Following an advertisement placed by the OPW seeking possible site proposals, a number of responses were received. Six sites were visited and their technical suitability as a location for the school was considered. The preferred location for the new school is a 3 acre site on the existing Tipperary Rural and Business Institute (TRBDI) site. The site is in the ownership of TRBDI. However, the TRBDI has proposed to my Department that its campus in Clonmel be relocated to a large-scale technology park. Approval to this proposal is conditional on, inter alia, the Institute assisting my Department in the matter of the provision of a site for the school.

Expressions of Interest have been sought by TRBDI from private sector property developers to determine what exactly could be provided at the technology park in exchange for the Institute's current property in Clonmel. The Expressions of Interest sought required the incorporation of a suitable site for the school in question on the current campus or on an alternative site approved by my Department and the Office of Public Works. The Expressions of Interest received by TRBDI are currently being evaluated.

I want to assure the Deputy that the permanent accommodation needs of this school are being addressed and the provision of a permanent building for the school will be progressed in the context of the School Buildings and Modernisation Programme when a suitable site has been acquired.