Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her question. As she stated, my Department recently undertook an assessment of vacant former married quarter properties in the Curragh Camp with a view as to their potential for future military use as single living-in accommodation. The properties in question comprise a terrace of 16 houses and are typical of the type of former married quarters accommodation vacant in the Curragh. Three of the houses have been reconfigured over time by combining adjacent houses. As a result, there are now 13 individual units in the terrace overall. The terrace is a solid brick structure with a slate roof. The majority of the houses comprise two bedrooms, a kitchen and sitting room. There is a small toilet located at the rear of each house on the ground floor but there are no bathroom facilities. The assessment indicates that in order to be viable for accommodation use, adjacent properties would have to be combined to give a smaller number of larger units. However, the assessment also indicates that the properties are in a very poor state and that the estimated cost of the repairs necessary to make them suitable as accommodation is simply prohibitive. While the outcome of the assessment is still under consideration, it is clear that any renovation would be very costly, would only deliver eight to nine viable units and would be very limited in terms of future military needs. This is not a cost-effective solution to meeting accommodation needs at the Curragh.

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