Ms Clare McGrath:

The property asset management delivery plan is Government saying to all State property holders that it wishes us to be more strategic in the way we manage the estate, that we have a responsibility and should communicate and collaborate better in how we manage that. We have put in place the protocols the Government has identified for our interactions. We are streamlining the processes between public bodies in dealing with property transactions, which previously could have been quite cumbersome. We now have streamlined processes, have put in place a single valuation and have seen a major improvement in transaction costs and transaction efficiencies. That has been put in place. We are looking at that in relation to disposals and inter-body uses. When it comes to the management of our own estate, which is what the Senator is asking about, the OPW was previously 50:50 as between leased and owned. Where a lease is particularly important to us is where it gives us flexibility around movements in numbers and Departments, so that we can exit by looking to exercise the break. That works two ways. If I am in a lease and the landlord has the decision, he or she can exercise the break too. One is balancing that. At the moment, we are at about 60:40. Strategically, depending on location, function and duration, each entity will have policies in that regard. However, if I am looking to take accommodation where previously I might not so easily have done so, I can have regard to other public bodies through the register. If they have capacity, I can go in there on a lease basis, but it is with another public body.

In the overall, the Government has said to all public property owners through the property asset management delivery plan that it wants us to be more strategic in our long-term planning around our estate. Part of this will come through networking with each other. In particular regions, we will create networks and property managers will communicate with each other around what is happening in a locality. Individual public property holders will make long-term plans which will come in part from our strategy statements and Government plans.