The Department of Education paid €5 million for a school site of less than two acres in the rapidly growing Ongar area of northwest Dublin, just eight months after it bought an adjacent four-acre site for almost €5.5 million from the same developer.
In both instances, the vendor was King of the Castle Ltd, which is a subsidiary of Manor Park Housebuilders, one of the best-known developers in the State.
Ongar is situated between Clonsilla and Clonee in Co Meath.
While the department, through Fingal County Council, paid the equivalent of approximately €1.36 million per acre for the original four-acre site in July of last year, it paid almost €2.68 million per acre for the second 1.864 acre site in March of this year.
This indicates that King of the Castle saw the price per acre, which it received for adjoining pieces of land, almost double within eight months.
A department spokeswoman confirmed that it had purchased the second site for €5 million in March of this year in order to satisfy planning requirements. She added that the adjoining site was necessary for the development of two schools on the site.
She said the four-acre site was purchased on its behalf by Fingal County Council "at a preferential rate", but that it purchased the second site directly from King of the Castle Ltd.
Under an agreement, between the council and the department, the council acted as the agent for the latter in the purchase of the first four-acre site. This site cost €5.448 million. The council then passed the land on to the department at no extra cost. In return, the department agreed to provide enhanced community facilities for the schools.
Last week, The Irish Times revealed that the department had spent more than €80 million on school sites in the past 5½ years alone.
This prompted Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte to raise the issue in the Dáil, where he demanded Government action to deal with the "outrageous excessive profit-making" in the property market.
The department spokeswoman said the price negotiated for the second site was "slightly less than market value of the land". She added that the new draft programme for Government contains commitments in relation to planning for new schools.
These include improvements to the arrangements for acquiring school sites and no rezoning for residential development without a commitment to an appropriate proportion of land for school.
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin has no plans to instigate a review of the Ongar transaction, the spokeswoman said.