Harold's Cross school land costs
Deputy Thomas Byrne questioned the high cost of land for a school site in Harold's Cross and the impact on the education capital budget. The Taoiseach referred the issue to the Minister for Education and Skills, who said the purchase was based on independent valuation and that capital budgets had also risen.
The programme for Government makes a commitment to deliver a school capital programme. Land costs is a cross-government issue. I am glad the State is taking an interest in Dublin 6 and providing schools in that area, which is important for the children of the area, but I am deeply concerned by media reports of the cost of the land in Harold's Cross as €23 million. This is almost the same as the entire budget for purchasing land for the year. It represents almost a doubling of the Department's land costs. This is an issue for health and housing, in particular, and not just education. What are the cross-government plans to deal with excessive land costs and to deliver its capital programme?
Comment on this
The position in respect of any purchase, and it is true of the purchase in Harold's Cross, is that it is based on an independent valuation in order that the State is getting value for money. Since the recovery in land values, we have to pay more for land for schools and, as I indicated to the Deputy yesterday at the joint committee meeting, that has increased in each of the past few years but, at the same time, we have increased the number of schools that we are building. The capital budgets have increased to put us in a position to deliver an increased number of school places year on year. The Deputy is correct that any land acquisition is expensive, particularly in city centre locations, but we still have to provide resources to educate children in those areas and, therefore, we have to pay the going price.