Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works, OPW, and flood relief, I appreciate the opportunity provided by the committee to outline the vital work to be funded through the 2018 Revised Estimates for the OPW and involving a sum of €404 million.  I also welcome the committee's interest and input into the outcomes to be gained from this funding. The two areas I wish to talk about are flood risk management and estate management, including our heritage estate.

Members are aware that flooding is a natural event that can cause widespread damage and have a devastating effect on communities, property and infrastructure. It is well known that I have a keen interest in ensuring that the correct actions are taken to prevent and decrease flood risk. Where flooding is likely to occur, the State must provide protection and a speedy response to assist communities and properties. As Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, I welcome the additional €25 million in funding made available in the Revised Estimates to continue to address this challenging issue. Effective flood risk management is a long-term commitment that involves adopting capital infrastructural and non-infrastructural measures. I am pleased to say how my office has produced detailed analysis of flood risk in 300 identified communities, including 19 coastal areas throughout the OPW catchment flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, programme. This programme has proposed a number of measures to be undertaken as outlined within the 29 flood risk management plans across the State and it also established the prioritisation of our resources in order to deliver maximum benefit to the State.

In addition to the flood defence schemes already completed, eight major schemes are now under construction and 2018 will see the substantial completion of another four schemes in Dublin, Galway, Louth and Clare. Subject to planning approval I expect that eight further schemes will commence in the coming year, including five within the Cork region. I have also worked with my office to develop a range of other measures to tackle flood risk, which include the OPW minor flood mitigation and coastal protection schemes in partnership with local authorities, a pilot scheme in County Mayo of individual property protection measures, flood forecasting in conjunction with the Met Éireann and a number of community resilience initiatives.

The second main area of funding in the OPW Vote relates to estate management. The estate managed by the OPW is made up of more than 2,000 properties and is a critical part of the State's economic, operational and cultural infrastructure. Being very conscious of the current improved economic outlook and anticipating an increase in Ireland's population over the next 20 years, I am planning for the future with the OPW for a similar increase in required public services. As such, my office is continually reviewing the accommodation needs to deliver current and future effective public services which is a key priority within A Programme for a Partnership Government.

From 2008 to 2016, the OPW restructured State office accommodation with the surrender of more than 2 million sq. ft and a reduction in the annual State rent bill of €43 million per annum. Given the evidence in 2017 of an increase requirement for Civil Service accommodation and upward trends in the rental market, this will be difficult to sustain into the future. My office will, however, continue to seek value for money within the State rental portfolio and focus especially on continued effective use of State-owned property. The funding provided in the Revised Estimate supports a continuation of this efficiency drive by providing €3.5 million to buy sites and properties where they are considered to provide the greatest value for money.

I shall now turn to the heritage estate. The good news is the significant increase in visitor numbers and the revenue received by the Exchequer in 2017 is expected to be sustained in 2018. The not so good news is that the condition of a number of these properties is poor and worsening with the additional pressure created by these increased visitor numbers. It has been demonstrated in recent years at sites such as Kilmainham Gaol that there is a link between revenue and reinvestment. It is now critical for us to consider reinvesting some of the income received in the heritage estate in order to sustain and develop a highly important and crucial economic asset.

My office is currently working in tandem with Fáilte Ireland and others to develop and improve these areas with many projects scheduled to start on visitor sites in 2018. Overall, my office works extremely hard at a time of budgetary pressures to ensure appropriate works are prioritised and measures undertaken to complement those already in place. The office is now well positioned to invest any additional resources to be allocated by the Government in the coming years in these two very important areas of State investment; flood risk management and estate management.

I thank the committee for the time allotted to my opening address.