Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the budget available to his Department in 2011 and 2012 for the purchase of school sites; the number of sites acquired in the period to date; the location of all such sites; the total money expended on site acquisition in 2011; the extent to which the site acquisition budget has been expended in the year to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45892/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the total allocation available in 2012 for the capital programme in the school sector amounts to €357m and expenditure to date is in line with expectations. Within the 2012 capital allocation, the more significant expenditure is concentrated on large scale projects which includes the acquisition of school sites and is estimated to be in the order of €240m by year-end. A similar figure was expended in 2011 on large scale projects, which included the acquisition of school sites. The value of sites acquired by my Department amounted to just over €29m in 2011 with a total of 10 sites being acquired. I attach a table detailing the locations of the sites acquired.

Price information regarding site acquisitions is commercially sensitive and the release of such information for 2011 or 2012 at this time would prejudice future and ongoing negotiations elsewhere in the State. Therefore, I am not in a position to provide a list of payment amounts paid by my Department for individual sites in 2011 or to provide further details in relation to the 2012 site acquisition programme at this time.