No legal agreements in place for State’s multi-million investment in schools on patron-owned sites
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There has been very little progress in securing legal agreements for the large number of schools built outside of lands owned by the State, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) has found.
Due to an absence of appropriate legal agreements with patron bodies, the State’s multi-million capital investment in most new schools and extensions has not been formally secured, the C&AG highlighted in its annual report inspecting the accounts of the public sector.
This was previously highlighted by its office in September 2020. However, progress since has been "slow” when it comes to the development of new legal agreements to protect the State's interests.
About 85% of schools are located on patron-owned sites. The Department of Education “historically” relied substantially on patron bodies, such as Catholic Church authorities, for the sites on which schools were built on, the report notes.
A system of charging leases was put in place as a means of protecting the minister’s interests.
However, the C&AG found charging leases were not always in place as expected, or that leases put in place had, in fact, expired. If the lease had expired, the minister’s interest had also expired.
“Legally, the patron does not need to apply to have the minister’s interest removed from the site.”
In 2004, the Chief State Solicitor’s Office proposed the implementation of deeds of covenant and charge as a more appropriate mechanism to secure the minister’s interest in building projects on patron-owned sites. “In the 20 years since, this mechanism has not been implemented.”
As of last July, just four lease agreements were in place with patrons for schools located on minister-owned sites, out of a total of 376 schools. “No additional evidence was provided to the examination team to support the position that control of schools built on minister-owned sites had in fact transferred to the relevant patron.”
The report also highlighted how the Department of Education's newly established lease register for schools located on patron-owned sites was "incomplete" and had multiple entries in many cases. Therefore, the examination team could not conclude on the number of schools where "charging leases are in place or if the original lease had in fact expired."
Previously, the Department of Education provided funding to patrons for school construction, with a percentage of costs, known as the "local contribution", being provided by the patron body.
This contribution stood at 15% for primary schools, and 10% for post primary schools.
However, the policy was discontinued in 2010. Since 2010, 482 new school builds or large-scale extensions have been completed. More than half were on patron-owned sites without the requirement for a local contribution by the patrons.