Ms Clare McGrath:

Chairman, the policy in this area resides with the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Decisions on State acquisition of property from private owners do not come under our remit, other than through section 1003A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997.

We have an involvement at that end of things. In relation to the former, it is a decision of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht as to whether a property would be included. This has not happened, but where a property was required, the Department might look to the Office of Public Works, a local authority or community group to manage and maintain it. Our role in this area is in respect of the properties that are in our care. There is an aspect of this where by reason of issues around access or issues with adjoining properties in relation to properties in our care, we might think strategically and determine what is important in respect of the heritage property we have. We would treat with that as we have the core property and might see opportunities. There is no direct funding and we look to that in relation to our own resources. It is about doing it strategically out over a number of years and we would obtain Department of Public Expenditure and Reform sanction around that. In terms of the Deputy's originating question, we would not be looking at privately held properties and requests in that space, which would be policy matters for the Department.