Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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466. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to clarify if the Department is considering selling land earmarked for a school in an area (details supplied) to a developer; if so, the reason this is the case; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44877/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I can confirm that the Department of Education is in discussions with a developer on a potential disposal of the lands to the rear of the St. Finian's National School for the development of a public park and housing. Some lands will be retained for the benefit of St. Finian's National School.

The sustainable development plan of a settlement area and the planned use of the available development land is set out in County and Local Area Development Plans.

The land to the South St. Finian's NS is zoned to provide for new residential communities in the South Dublin County Development Plan 2022-2028. There is also a Specific Local Objective (SLO) on these lands to identify and set aside land for a Public Park.

The site in the Minister's ownership, adjacent to St. Finian’s National School, extends to 2.1 Hectares (5.2 acres).

My department has published guidelines to assist in the identification and the assessment for suitability of new sites for schools where the procurement of a new site is required. The relevant guidelines are TGD-025 for Primary School site identification and TGD-027 for Post-Primary site identification. All technical guidelines are available on the gov.ie website at www.gov.ie/en/publication/7e515-technical-guidance-documents/.

The recommended site area, outlined in these guidelines, for a 750 pupil post primary school is 3.81 Hectares and 4.57 Hectares for a 1,000 pupil post primary school.

There are no plans to develop a post primary school on this site.

The future demand for school places in an area is directly linked to the number of existing and planned residential units. This department works closely with Local Authorities to ensure sufficient lands are zoned for educational use to meet the projected demand. To that end, a specific objective to provide school facilities has been provided on lands within the Newcastle development area in the South Dublin County Development Plan 2022-2028. These lands are adjacent to a large public park and public play facilities.

Any agreement to transfer lands for the development of housing and public park will include providing access to these specific lands for the development of the required school facilities.

The current negotiations include the transfer of land in the Newcastle area to the department for educational use. The purpose of these negotiations is to facilitate the development of Newcastle in a sustainable manner in keeping with the existing County & Local Development Plans.