Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I was kidnapped by the Committee on Public Petitions, which was seeking a quorum, so I apologise for not having been here. My intention in flagging this item and seeking the information stems from the fact this issue concerns more than any one constituency.

I appreciate there are open legal cases, so I will be careful in what I say. Ultimately, a building has been lying idle for nearly 16 years and there are ongoing legal cases. As a member of the Committee of Public Accounts who sees the work of the education and training board, ETB, and the constraints it is under regarding space and so on, it is bizarre that there is no way of finding some accountability for what happened while those legal cases take place. I would appreciate the guidance of other members of the committee who have been here longer than me. As long as those legal cases are ongoing, we are in some ways constrained. There is a significant issue involving a building, a location and a service being delivered. Legal cases are to recoup public money or prevent the misspending of public money, so I am not undermining the legal strategy, but there is a significant issue, of which I will provide an example. Home Farm Football Club is a local football club in the area impacted by metro works. The proposal was for a temporary all-weather pitch to be located somewhere in the area so the club could continue. The ideal location would have been beside this site but that was not possible because of the legal constraints. Any land in Dublin is valuable, so that a building could sit on it and, equally, that there is a legal strategy which may not even be completed in a decade is not acceptable. I understand that we are constrained but the OPW and the Department have a role to be accountable to the committee regarding overall spending, what may have been spent and the legal fees accruing, the strategy and costs of that also.