Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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190. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the amount which was paid by his Department for the Bord na gCon site at Harold's Cross, Dublin; and if the property was put out to tender on the open market. [23113/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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No payment has been made by my Department to Bord na gCon at this point.

The current status is that a formal offer of €23million has been made, and accepted by Bord na gCon. The matter is subject to contract and the acquisition will be subject to the satisfactory completion of the conveyancing process.

The sale is subject to the standard approvals required from the Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

The property was not put out to tender on the open market but rather my Department and Bord na gCon agreed to advance the proposed transfer of the property in line with the mechanism set out in Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Circulars 11/2015 and 17/2016: Protocols for the Transfer and Sharing of State Property Assets.  These Protocol provides for the Valuation Office to provide a mutually binding estimation of value and my Department's offer to Bord na gCon was made on that basis.

The purpose of the Circular is to ensure a strategic approach to the public sector estate as a whole, to ensure that the interests of the Exchequer are protected in terms of utilising state assets. There is a merit in making such property assets available to the State in the first instance, and the protocol ensures fairness to the disposing party by guaranteeing that the price paid is in line with market value.