Department paid €2.5m more than initially budgeted for site of temporary school

In February 2021, the department agreed to purchase the site of the temporary Educate Together school on the Mill Rd, near Mornington. 

The Department of Education paid nearly €2.5m more than it had initially budgeted for the site of a temporary school in east Meath after a report suggesting it was due to pull out of the deal caused uproar locally.

Some €1.3m of the overall €3.2m expenditure went on the construction of local transport infrastructure which the seller of the land had been legally obliged to complete at its own expense, but failed to do so.

In February 2021, the department agreed to purchase the site of the temporary Educate Together school on the Mill Rd, near Mornington.

Two weeks previously, local reports suggested the department was to pull out of the deal, and the school would be relocated to the far side of Drogheda.

The department had been involved in protracted negotiations regarding the acquisition of the land with the developer, Dundalk-based Shannon Homes, since the latter completed the original temporary school in 2019.

In January 2020, the department had valued the 11-acre site at €720,000, and indicated it had reached its bidding limit for the land at that price.

Reference is made in documents seen by the Irish Examiner that during those negotiations to the developer having “unrealistic price expectations”.

In January 2020, the department’s adviser to the deal noted the developer’s opinion that “these lands now have a first-class zoning in the new county development plan”. 

However, at that time the lands were still zoned white lands — that is, not for development — while the new county development plan was not published for a further 21 months, when the land was zoned as "community infrastructure".

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Nevertheless, the department’s adviser said in March of that year “we are of the opinion that the vendor will be seeking residential land values, as they will be developing residential units on these lands should we not strike a deal”.

When news that the department was to pull out of the deal broke in February 2021, it was greeted with huge anger locally. 

Local TD Imelda Munster declared the lack of consultation before making the decision by the department as “totally unacceptable”.

The contract for the sale, which has been seen by the Irish Examiner, shows that in November 2021 the department agreed to pay €1.88m for the site, €1.16m more than its previous maximum valuation, and also agreed to finance a roundabout, road, and footpaths for €1.32m  infrastructure which was a condition of planning for the initial school, and which the developer had committed to constructing at its own expense per the school’s licence and which as of April 2020 it maintained it was still going to build.

The department had been involved in protracted negotiations regarding the acquisition of the land with the developer, Dundalk-based Shannon Homes, since the latter completed the original temporary school in 2019.

The department did not directly respond to questions regarding why it had paid €1.1m more for the land than its own highest valuation, noting instead that there had been great “demand” for the school at the time of purchase.

Regarding how the department had ended up funding the roads and roundabout which the developer had been legally obligated to construct, a spokesperson said only that the agreement to buy the land “included a contribution to the development of road and services infrastructure required for the continued operation of the interim school”.

Shannon Homes did not respond to a request for comment.

Local Labour TD Ged Nash said the deal raised “serious questions” for the minister for education must answer. 

He plans to write to the Public Accounts Committee regarding what has transpired.