Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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21. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will make a formal offer to the Christian Brothers to hand over the playing pitches at a school (details supplied) in lieu of some of the moneys owed to the redress board; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31798/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Decisions in regard to the disposal of these lands are a matter for the Congregation. I would expect the Congregation to have given very careful consideration to all relevant issues, including the education needs of the current and future students of Clonkeen College. The Congregation has also to balance that need with the need to complete its outstanding redress contribution. After the publication of the Ryan report, the Congregation pledged to make a cash contribution of €30 million to a fund to aid survivors of abuse and have contributed €21.2 million to date. The monies are paid into a fund to aid survivors, a lot of whom are advancing in years and require services supplemental to what the State can offer.

I am not privy to the deliberations or to the debates within the Congregation that led to their decision to sell off these lands for property development. I would be reasonably confident that there are other assets the Congregation could dispose of to realise its remaining redress contribution.

The Congregation has recently written to me in regard to the wider issue of the transfer of ownership of its playing fields to the Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST). Proposals in regard to its playing fields had been made to the Government in 2009 and counterproposals were made which were not accepted by the Congregation or ERST to which the playing fields are, I understand, currently licensed. The Congregation has indicated its willingness to engage further with my Department on how such a transfer would be reckoned as a redress contribution.

My Department has written to the Congregation on the matter of the Clonkeen lands, seeking clarification on a number of points including whether the land in question is now the subject of a legally binding agreement with a builder.

The Congregation have acknowledged the correspondence and will be in further touch with my Department.