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

I have some quick questions. I could understand it if there was an outlier among the number of buildings, perhaps because of unclear title issues. The length of time it is taking for the whole group suggests there is some other reason for the delay in getting these buildings into State ownership. In addition to the list that has been promised, can we be given some indication as to when we are likely to see a conclusion? What is being done, or what remains to be done, to get to a conclusion in all cases? Perhaps that can be indicated on the list or spreadsheet we are to be given.

I am aware that one of the Department's documents indicated that a sizeable amount of administrative time was being spent on this. I presume that the longer this goes on, the heavier that investment will be. Is somebody who is dedicated to this initiative working on it in the Department, or is it an intermittent thing? What is going on to cause it to take so long? Is a different kind of focus required to get this over the line? We are going to keep coming back to this. As Deputy Connolly said, if a building is sitting there idle, it is not improving. The buildings that will be received by local authorities or the Department when they come into public ownership will end up needing to have money spent on them by virtue of the fact that they have been empty. Can we have some sort of an indication? Who is doing what? When are all of these matters likely to come over the line? It seems like it is taking an inordinate length of time. These problems are not confined to just one building. This seems to be a trend in most cases.