Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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90. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the acquisition of a permanent school site for a school (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47407/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Department has identified a suitable permanent site for the school to which the Deputy refers and agreement in principle in respect of this proposed acquisition, subject to satisfactory conveyancing, was reached in February 2017. This Department requested draft contracts at that time.

The site in question is currently not accessible and aspects of the design and delivery of the access road to the site needed to be discussed with the landowner. Work has been ongoing in the interim in relation to this. On foot of these discussions, the vendor provided draft contracts in August 2017 and this enabled the Chief State Solicitor’s Office to commence engagement with respect to this.

It is important to note that the ongoing site acquisition process is not hindering the delivery of the permanent accommodation for the school as preliminary design work has commenced in respect of this project. The Design Team has already had some engagement with officials in the relevant Local Authority in that regard and will shortly be holding formal pre-planning discussions with a view to further advancing the project.

The Department is aware of the limitations of the school's current temporary accommodation and every effort is being made to progress the permanent accommodation for the school as expeditiously as possible.