Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 681: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her Department has bought the 5 acre site at Charlesland, Greystones, from a company (details supplied) for a proposed 32 classroom primary school; if her Department merely has an option on the purchase of the site in the event that the company receives planning permission from Wicklow County Council for a shopping centre and other development on the remainder of the site at Charlesland; the exact nature of the arrangement which her Department has with the company regarding the use of five acres of its site for the construction of a new primary school for the Charlesland area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19777/07]

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 682: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the parents of children attending a school (details supplied) in County Wicklow have been informed that the new intake of junior infants in September 2007 will be placed in temporary accommodation in a purpose built public house at Charlesland for the 2007-2008 school year; her views on whether this arrangement is considered to be satisfactory in view of the distance between the old and the new site and the difficulties this may cause for parents and children, as well as other factors; if the existing site can be retained by her Department for educational use; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19778/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 681 and 682 together.

The site to which the Deputy refers has been reserved for educational purposes and it is the Department's intention to purchase this to address, in part, the long term primary school accommodation needs in Greystones. Due to the commercial sensitivities attaching to site acquisitions, I am not in a position to comment further on the acquisition of this site at this time. The Department provided temporary accommodation on the site of the school to which the Deputy refers to accommodate the 2007/2008 junior infant cohort.