Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I have a number of very quick questions. The first concerns a reply I received in November of last year to a parliamentary question and follows on from the point that has been made. The reply states, "As the Deputy will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is primarily responsible for the distribution of Garda resources in the State and, as Minister, I have no direct role in the matter." It is very clear from what Mr. Ó Cualáin has said that the Minister had a very direct role in the matter because there was a direct choice to be made and that direct choice was made about one station. It was, therefore, not the Garda that selected Stepaside; it was either the Government or the Minister. That seems to be very clear from what he has said.

The second point is that some stations have found their way onto a sales list. Of the 159 stations closed, 42 have been sold. That makes 117 that have not been sold, and they are well distributed. There are 16 in Leinster and nine in Connacht, despite the fact that Mr. Ó Cualáin said most of them were on the western seaboard and do on. Stepaside does not appear to have been put on a list for sale. Does the Garda have a role with the OPW in terms of future-proofing these needs? Does it have a role with the OPW in saying, "Do not sell that. This is cropping up from the information we are gathering from our districts. If we are future-proofing our needs, we will need to hold onto that."? Is that part of the dialogue? Does that happen between the Department of Justice and Equality and the OPW, or between whom does it happen? We could very easily sell off stations and then have to buy or rent others in their place. That is where I feel the Committee of Public Accounts has a very strong role.