Department
agrees to pay debt due to County Council
The
last issue of Community Voice gave details of how Fingal
County Council is currently owed up to €40m by the Department of
Education & Science for sites purchased by the county council for
schools in the county.
Over the past year Fingal County Council had spent €26m buying
these sites at the request of the department but to date only €7m
had been repaid to the council. 
In addition to this amount the council is owed a further sum of up to
€20m under the so-called “Fingal Schools Model.” Under
this arrangement the council receives a sum equal to 50% of any savings
made in negotiating the purchase of the land and this money is then
used for the provision of facilities for the local community in association
with the construction of the new school.
Speaking at the June meeting of Fingal County Council, the county manager
announced that discussions with the Department of Education “concluded
last week with agreement on the methodology of payment that had previously
caused delays arising from differences in Valuations with particular
sites. Invoices have now issued from Fingal County Council that will
result in prompt repayment to the council of the entire outstanding
amount.”
According to the manager, “a proportion of these payments will
comprise amounts that transfer 50% of the difference between prices
secured for lands by this council and the market value of those lands.
These amounts will be expended to effect the provision of significant
community facilities associated with each school in question, as provided
for in the agreed “Fingal Schools Model”.
A spokesperson for Fingal County Council told Community Voice
that the matter of all outstanding monies was now resolved and the agreement
between the two parties marked a clear endorsement of the “Fingal
Schools Model” of school site procurement “going forward.”
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