Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The next issue on the clár is the proposed Mary Robinson centre in Ballina, County Mayo. I will start on that. This is a very important issue because Mary Robinson is one of the most important political individuals to come out of this country in the past 100 years and one of our most important Presidents. Many people throughout the country are very proud of the legacy she has left behind in all her roles in her service to the State and internationally. There is no doubt the archive she leaves is of great interest and value to many people. There is also great logic to locating that archive in an accessible space in the region where she comes from. The desire to have it located in Ballina in County Mayo was a good and logical desire and one that this type of committee would, in general, be in favour of. Unfortunately, the issue got bogged down in a number of difficulties when it came to financing. The first major difficulty was that it was a break in precedent. All former Presidents gifted their archives to the State so that people could access them. This break with precedent meant there was going to be a tax relief drawn down from the State for the archive. The Minister's Department played a pivotal role in this entire process. It is clear the process was not going to work because there was a reversal of the process that was initially laid out by the Victoria House Foundation.

Was due diligence carried out by the Department when it decided to fund this particular project? Although the particular building in hand was going to be purchased by the county council, it was understood to be far more expensive than the value that was put on it. A local Garda station, which had closed down right beside it, with equal, if not more, space was on sale a few years ago for far less money. The council entered into a kind of blank-cheque situation whereby it came to the Department and said that if there were any unforeseen costs, it would cover them. There was confusion over the value of the property. It also emerged that the property was in a structural condition which would necessitate significant investment of hundreds of thousands of euros just to make it ready for use for the project. The other issue that came into play was the manner in which the Department made the decision to provide this funding. Normally, funding would be measured and decided upon within particular sectors, projects or areas within the Department but I understand this does not fall into any of those. Will the Minister address those particular issues. Was there due diligence? How did the Minister feel about another State organisation writing a blank cheque and entering into a project in circumstances where the building was not in good structural condition and where the costs would be borne by the State?