Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That was the argument for locating Departments there. As a public representative for the area and as Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, I am looking at this site that I drive past twice a day coming here and going home on the orbital route and there it is lying empty with bushes growing up around it. Meanwhile we are paying nearly €1 million a year renting various office complexes around the town to facilitate these buildings. I raised this with Brian Hayes back when he was Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW. This has been going on and on but nobody seems to have a handle on it. I have raised it frequently when representatives of the OPW have appeared before the committee. I accept that the OPW does not have full control over this. However, it is not a satisfactory situation. The OPW is charged with the government estate and here we are renting and leasing while this site is vacant. It is totally unsatisfactory. People are scratching their heads wondering why we cannot make better use of this site. In the years since 2002 or 2003, €15 million or €16 million may have been spent on rent. That €15 million or €16 million could have been spent on a greenfield site that is on an orbital route. It is not like the children's hospital and it is not necessary to get in and out by helicopter.

It is an easy place to get into and out of. It is a good site. Okay, there are cables running over it and there is a relocation issue there with the ESB - I am aware of that - but surely, in terms of value for money, this should have been sorted out before now. Heads need to be knocked together. There is the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as well. I know that Ms Mulvihill will not be able to answer the question, but perhaps she could take it back to the Department. Where are we going that we continuously spend money on leases and rents when we have a site standing there? We did not even think of leasing it out to somebody for grazing and now there are bushes growing up around it. It is almost overgrown now.