Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is a very good question. There are a number of reforms. I have to say this sincerely. In this role over the past seven or eight months I have had the opportunity to travel to an awful lot of OPW sites, many of which I had never been at before. The dedication and commitment of the staff, who, like so many right across the public service, have had to deal with fewer colleagues in the workplace, pay reductions, harder work and all that sort of stuff, is something of which we can all be really proud. That is seen in the visitor numbers. Even in a scenario with fewer staff on the sites and given the challenges for anybody working in the public or private sector during an economic crisis, to actually see these people continuing to increase visitor numbers is something of which we can be really proud.

From an economic point of view, the OPW has managed to take on a substantial body of extra work and it is important to say that it is extra work. The Government makes decisions and the OPW then has to get on and deliver the decisions. The Intreo offices, the school buildings, the maintenance we carry out, the many extra tasks that have been taken on at a time of reduced budgets and reduced staff numbers is a credit to my officials and our front-line staff throughout the organisation.

I put the statistics on the record of this committee earlier in respect of the economic benefit of the work of the OPW. Aside from the economic benefit of the revenue brought in at heritage sites, we have the economic benefit of our flood management schemes and the colossal work being done by Tony Smyth's team on the whole seafront project. If we look at the money that has been saved for the taxpayer, and it is a recurring annual saving, by reducing the footprint in terms of State leases, it is quite colossal and I outlined those figures.

There is a lot of work to do. There is no area in which the OPW is working where the work is complete, and probably no area where the work will ever be complete. The organisation can be very proud of what it has achieved, but the work goes on.