Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

Haulbowline Island, which is the former site of Irish Steel, was contaminated and needed to be remediated. During the time of the then Minister, Deputy Coveney, the Department took it over from the Department of Defence with a view to remediating the island and making it fit for purpose again. There is no question of us selling Haulbowline Island but we are at the point where we have fully remediated the east tip and are discussing with Cork County Council how it might open the east tip, which had been a waste site, as a park. The intention is to revert the property to the Department of Defence, the work having been completed, because Haulbowline Island is the headquarters of the Naval Service. We took ownership of the island for the purposes of completing the remediation work, for which we recently received a certificate of completion.