Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein)
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68. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has considered keeping the Aungier Street campus of TU Dublin in public ownership due to the lack of public facilities in the area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6889/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The TU Dublin Aungier Street Campus is currently the home of TU Dublin’s Business School, which will in time re-locate to a new purpose built facility in Grangegorman as part of the development of the Grangegorman site under the Grangegorman Development Agency (GDA) Act 2005.

Under the terms of the GDA Act 2005, both TU Dublin and the GDA are responsible for the disposal of assets, including the Aungier Street property. Funding realised by the disposal of these assets, will then be re-invested in the Grangegorman campus. This will be essential to support the development of facilities without which the relocation to Grangegorman cannot take place.

The Aungier Street property was listed for disposal on the State Property Register in September 2019 with no interest being indicated by the State sector in retaining the property in public ownership. On that basis, GDA and TU Dublin have incorporated the disposal of the property in their funding plans for relocation to the Grangegorman campus. Dublin City Council recently debated the zoning of Aungier Street as part of the preparation and approval of its Development Plan and the City Council decided to maintain the zoning as is.

Both the GDA and TU Dublin are mandated by the 2005 GDA Act to obtain the best value from any property disposal, so as to maximise the resources available for the Grangegorman development and to reduce the need for direct Exchequer funding.