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

For the benefit of the committee, I can say that 36 are former Garda stations, eight are other former Garda stations that predate the closures that are historic, two are former Garda residences, eight are Coast Guard properties, two are former customs properties, one is a former Met Éireann property and there are several other properties. Of the sites, seven are decentralisation sites, one is a Coast Guard site, five are customs sites and one is a former Met Éireann site. There are 17 other sites bringing the total to 99 properties. We have a plan for each one of them. Most of them are being worked through local authorities. The Deputy will appreciate that there are many issues relating to title because many Garda stations predate the foundation of the State. Some Garda stations were taken off old estates. They were barracks prior to the formation of An Garda Síochána so many of them do not have clean title. Even if community groups or local authorities want to take them, many of them do not have clean titles. In such circumstances, we have to establish title. This means that the Office of the Chief State Solicitor and others must try to establish title, which can take years because we are going back through defunct estates and it can take an awful lot of time. While a local authority might want to take these buildings off us for a house, we cannot transfer them for no value because it is against the law. We must get the actual purchase price and to do that, we need clean title and the Office of the Chief State Solicitor is finding it extremely difficult to establish that title.