Ms Clare McGrath:

I am pleased to appear before the committee to discuss the operations and functioning of the Office of Public Works and answer any questions that members may have.

The Office of Public Works, as the committee is aware, is responsible for a wide variety of functions, with an overall budget of €381 million in the current financial year. The two principal functional areas of responsibility on which I wish to focus are the priority reform areas for Government of flood risk management and estate portfolio management.

In regard to flood risk management, the Office of Public Works is the lead agency for the management of flood risk in Ireland and has invested more than €400 million on behalf of the State in the period 1996 to 2014. The Government has committed €225 million to flood risk management under its Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2012–2016 Medium Term Exchequer Framework - a substantial capital allocation which is enabling the OPW to continue with its flood relief capital works programme in conjunction with local authorities.

In order to advance the State's approach to flood risk management in Ireland, the OPW has developed a catchment flood risk assessment and management programme, known as the CFRAM programme. This programme lies at the core of the assessment of flood risk management in Ireland and long-term planning of the flood risk management measures throughout the country. The CFRAM programme is a central pillar of national policy on flood risk management, and its implementation is also ensuring that Ireland will meet the requirements of the EU flood directive that came into force in November 2007.

At present, CFRAM is focused on 300 areas of potentially significant risk which were identified through a national screening exercise completed in 2011 following public consultation. It is important to recognise and understand that although CFRAM is identifying existing areas at risk of flooding based on the analysis of data collected, the CFRAM process is not creating any new risks. The current position is that draft flood maps are currently been produced for the areas for further assessment, and the OPW is rolling out a series of public consultation days on these draft maps in these areas. The maps will contribute directly to the improved management of flood risk in the medium to long term. It is only through the clear identification of existing risks or risks that may arise under different climate change scenarios that all the main stakeholders can work together towards the implementation of sustainable measures to effectively address that risk. In that regard, the OPW recently engaged in a public consultation with all the main stakeholders in Dublin Castle. In addition, OPW is engaged with the Department of Finance and Insure Ireland on the matter to ensure detailed information is made available to its member companies in an agreed format on completed flood relief schemes to allow it take that information fully into account when considering insurance cover for its customers.

With regard to progress to date, a number of major flood relief schemes have been completed or are nearing completion in Dublin, Clonmel, Carlow, Kilkenny, Mallow, Fermoy and Ennis. Further major schemes in Bray and Waterford and on the Dodder and Wad rivers in Dublin are currently under construction, and schemes at design stage include Cork, Bandon and Skibbereen. While we are running the CFRAM programme, in parallel, we are continuing with the capital investment programme.

In order to supplement the capacity to deal with flood risk, the OPW also provides funding to local authorities to undertake smaller-scale works to address localised flooding and coastal protection problems within their administrative areas. Funding of almost €30 million under this scheme has been allocated since 2009, involving up to 470 projects.

As the committee will be aware, earlier this year a number of severe flooding events occurred, mainly in coastal areas. The Government allocated €69.5 million for the repair and remediation of public infrastructure that was damaged. Some €19.6 million of this was allocated to OPW for repair of existing coastal protection and flood defences following the flood events of December 2013 and January 2014.

This funding is being made available in 2014 and 2015 to local authorities through the Office of Public Works based on programmes of works submitted by local authorities.

Another significant area of work carried out by the office is on the property side. The estate portfolio management programme encompasses the management, maintenance and development of the State's property portfolio. This includes the conservation, protection and presentation of national monuments and historic properties in State care. The programme, which has an overall budget of €312 million this year, provides a variety of services, including professional services such as architecture, engineering, valuation, quantity surveying and project management.

In recent years the number of staff in the public service has decreased, and this has presented an opportunity to achieve significant reductions in the cost of office accommodation, one of central government's largest administrative overheads after pay and pensions. The OPW has made significant progress in this area. For example, the rental outturn for Departments has fallen from €131 million in 2008 to an expected outturn this year of €94 million through a programme of lease renegotiations and surrenders. This programme will continue to deliver an annual cash saving of over €30 million for the Exchequer. The outturn may continue to fall further with the appropriate investment in office accommodation along with significant administrative savings for Departments and greater efficiency in property management.

Within the estate portfolio, the heritage services manage the conservation and presentation of 760 national monuments and 30 national historic properties, with a combined provision of 70 visitor centres throughout the country. The visitor numbers at our staffed heritage sites continue to grow, with over 4 million visitors recorded in 2013. Multiples of this number attend sites which are open throughout the country on an annual basis, and we do not note the numbers at these sites. As part of our efforts in this area, the office is engaging on an ongoing basis with parties in the tourism sector, including Fáilte Ireland, to ensure our strategy is aligned with overall investment strategies for tourism.

I will set out the position on property asset management reform and the Government's agenda in this area. The OPW's evolving role under the property reform programme is a significant undertaking. It is being progressed against the backdrop of continuing rationalisation of the portfolio, to which I have adverted, and this has seen our rental outturn fall significantly. The ownership of State property in Ireland is legally vested in many State authorities and agencies. At times, this can result in an independent approach by each State entity in managing its portfolio. Changing this approach to a more centralised model through legislation would be an onerous undertaking and, therefore, ownership remains the same. However, a collaborative approach to reform has been adopted in this area through the establishment by Government of the steering group on property asset management reform, a committee which I chair. The steering group is comprised of representatives from the wider public service, including the County and City Managers' Association, the HSE and senior public servants nominated by virtue of their Department's role as property holders as well as their oversight role in respect of bodies under their aegis. The primary objectives of this group are to secure property related reforms, and we are seeing progress on many of these. The objectives include improving our combined strategic decision-making capability in managing the State's property assets, developing an intra-public-service map-based register of all State property, standardising building performance measurement or key performance indicators throughout the public service, developing a more co-ordinated approach to State property acquisitions, intra-state property transfers and asset sharing protocols, and optimising our expertise throughout the public service and benchmarking ourselves against international best practice. I expect that if we achieve these deliverables, real savings will be attained. They will be realised by sharing assets, expertise and information throughout the public service as well as through streamlining administrative and legal property transactions.

Already we are seeing more effective engagement and use of the State's property assets, including optimisation of the use of State facilities for the public good through our disposal programme. This includes the provision of several surplus properties to community and voluntary groups and the transfer of certain properties to councils for various other uses and to other bodies in the public sector. Separately, the office has engaged with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in respect of the current homelessness issue. Several properties under the OPW's remit have been examined for their suitability with a view to identifying interim solutions. This engagement is ongoing. We work closely with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and other public bodies in this area.

In the area of office rationalisation, Ministers have committed to ensuring that their Departments and agencies co-operate fully with the implementation process such that the State can achieve better utilisation of the existing portfolio. This can be realised through accommodation sharing across the public service, for example, as well as more modern, open-plan and cost-effective accommodation solutions and work practices. I believe the drive to optimise office space utilisation will be enhanced and facilitated by statistical evidence setting out the full cost of accommodation borne by the State. This evidence will derive from the key performance indicators arising from the application of a standardised approach to facilities management to be adopted by public property managers. This will provide a basis on which to assess building performance and identify where improvements in space and energy efficiency can be achieved. In the meantime, the OPW must continue to respond effectively to the property-related requirements of new Government programmes such as Intreo, as well as sustaining our core day-to-day business.

In order to meet these needs of the Government, we have initiated a process of internal organisational change to ensure the optimum alignment of our processes, resources and structures to sustain day-to-day activities and position the OPW to lead the programme of property-related reforms. I thank the committee and I am happy to answer any questions members may have on our operations or functions.