Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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241. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the school sites which have been agreed in principle and-or announced as having been agreed which have not been fully conveyed, transferred or leased to his Department by the date the agreement was reached or announced as having been reached. [17919/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I wish to clarify that any site that has been announced as having been “agreed in principle” will not have been fully conveyed, transferred or leased to my Department by the date the agreement was reached or announced as having been reached.

In order to explain the answer to the Deputy’s question, I wish to put a context on the site acquisition process. The first step is the identification of potential site options. My Department works closely with local authorities in the identification of school sites and, in addition in line with relevant circulars, also considers the potential of existing properties in the ownership of my Department or other state agencies.

Where a suitable site or property is identified, negotiations with the relevant landowner follow with a view to obtaining agreement on the terms of the land acquisition; this includes price but can also include other aspects such as technical issues arising from the development of the site. This process can take some time but once the terms of the acquisition are agreed, i.e. "agreement in principle" obtained, the process moves to conveyancing stage.

The point at which "agreement in principle" is reached with a landowner in respect of a proposed site acquisition is a very positive step in the acquisition process.  However, it is also the point that the conveyancing process to formalise the transfer (or lease) of the property commences.

Property conveyancing can be a time-consuming process depending on the variables in an individual case such as title issues and easements. Due diligence has to be applied to the transfer in order to ensure that good and marketable title is obtained in the interests of the Exchequer. 

In addition in cases where an acquisition is subject to planning permission, while contracts may be signed in advance, the transfer of ownership of the property occurs once planning permission has been granted. The planning process also includes the planning appeal process.   

Notwithstanding the above, where there is relative certainty in relation to finalising matters, for example where the land is in public ownership or where planning permission is being submitted but contracts not yet finalised, my Department sometimes can inform the school authorities of the proposed school location at this point on the basis that “agreement in principle” has been obtained. 

My Department’s general approach is to inform the school authorities of the potential location of the new school at as early a stage as possible, provided that this would not jeopardise the potential acquisition. In general, where a site is in public ownership or where there is relative certainty in relation to completion of the acquisition, the school can be informed at the point when "agreement in principle" has been obtained and prior to contracts being signed. In some cases, particularly where the land is in private ownership, due to commercial sensitivities it may not be appropriate to confirm the site location at the point at which agreement in principle is reached. For example, title issues may come to light at conveyancing stage which means that the acquisition may not proceed; if this information were in the public domain it could potentially jeopardise any subsequent disposal of the land by the owner. Similarly in some cases prematurely announcing the site location could jeopardise completion of the acquisition process due to commercial or other issues.

I trust this explains the context in which the school site acquisition process operates, and the reasons why school site acquisition progress can be referred to as having reached the point of "agreement in principle" while the formal transfer process has not completed.