Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 30 March 2021

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised)

Photo of Patrick O'DonovanPatrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First of all, the Morell flood management scheme, as the Deputy quite rightly says, was at a standstill because of a judicial review but construction got going again and continued during Covid. It is a direct labour scheme by the Office of Public Works. It is something, as I said earlier, I would like to see more of. It is a substantial scheme costing €10 million. It will protect many properties in that part of County Kildare. It is a very important scheme involving 7.5 km of embankments. It is quite a complex scheme involving the realigning of two streams and 11 culverts. It is hoped, all going well with no further delays, that it will be completed in the third quarter of 2024.

On the heritage side, I will begin with the last one Deputy Durkan mentioned. Castletown House is a hugely important and significant part of our tourism offering, not only in County Kildare but in the eastern side of the country. It is historically significant. There is potential for a great deal more by the OPW and Fáilte Ireland. It is something that I have already spoken to the commissioner about to see, with Kildare County Council, whether there is potential to do more post-Covid to drive more tourism into that part of County Kildare. After Covid, something that I want to see, if we can sit down with Kildare County Council and Fáilte Ireland, is whether there is more that can be done there. I visited there years ago on a school tour. I visited there as Minister of State with responsibility for tourism. It was regarded as Ireland's largest house when it was built by the then speaker of the Irish Parliament. There is more that can be done for it.

I am not sure if I have the pronunciation right where Deputy Durkan referred to Taghadoe Round Tower. There are no plans at present to undertake any works here. The OPW is aware of structural issues here. I might be able to get the Deputy a more comprehensive note on it afterwards.

I do not have any good news for Deputy Durkan for buildings that we do not have custody of that are national monuments other than to say that the Minister who has responsibility for it is the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and there are grants available from that Department. We have responsibility for the limited number of monuments that we present. Kildare County Council will be able to help as well through the Rural Regeneration Fund that is presentable there through Leader. That might be an option for the Deputy to pursue.

The Office of Public Works is doing work with local authorities in terms of the presentation of our monuments as a whole. In how we can present all of our monuments in terms of a tourism package, we are not doing enough. As a former Minister of State with responsibility for tourism, I am aware this is something we are not doing enough of with the local authorities. Our Commissioner, Mr. John McMahon, and I have spoken about this to see how we will do more of it. I met the County and City Management Association recently. Particularly now with staycationing, it is obvious that we do not do enough of it. It is glaringly obvious we have not done enough of it over the past number of years. We have all of these fantastic monuments around the country and we do not even have road signs to them. The basics have not been done properly. I have charged the county and city managers with trying to do even something as basic as the road signage with Transport Infrastructure Ireland. It is something that I can meet Deputy Durkan on, separately, outside of this meeting about, if that is what he would like.

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