Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his remarks. The whole question of property management is a key part of the public sector reform programme, about which the Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin, has spoken to this committee and the Committee of Public Accounts. We will be in a much better space when we get the memo through, which will help this organisation to move people around, with agreement, but in a way that maximises floor space. There is nothing as bad as going into a building that is heated and maintained with a floor unoccupied. At present people can move around willy nilly, with just two weeks advance notice, and move elsewhere but we have to pick up the pieces. I am being honest. That is not the way to run a property effectively. We need to have much greater control of property in working with the organisations. We have started the inventory process which was a key decision of the public sector reform plan. At first level it will be across Government and not only across each Department but each of the agencies within those Departments. We have a much better focus on where those buildings are located around the country and their condition. The Deputy is correct that the cost involved in maintaining these buildings and bringing them up to a standard is astronomical. In some cases one might argue that it might be easier to hand them to another organisation. It depends on what the organisation is but I accept many of the buildings are in strategic locations in towns throughout the country and we do not want to diminish that in any shape or form but we have got to manage it. The new tools we will be given under the public sector reform plan will greatly help us in that regard. Of course, we have very few new buildings. That is the reality of capital. It is about managing the resource we have and adapting that in a more clever way. Shared office space will be a key issue. Next year our organisation, working with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, will launch a new shared service facility in Clonskeagh for HR which will bring together 350 civil servants to deal with all HR transactions within the Civil Service. That is a building we custom made in an open plan office. If one comes to our head office in Trim, one will see an open plan office. As far as I am concerned that is the office of the future.