Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Donovan for raising this issue and affording me the opportunity to explain the position regarding Dunmanway Garda station. I am responding on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell. The Minister visited the station in October 2005 on foot of the Deputy's request and made contact with local gardaí in the temporary station. The Minister was shown the old station, which had been vacated for some time, and it was abundantly clear that major works are required.

In order for the building works to proceed, the Office of Public Works must purchase land at the rear of the station. The Chief State Solicitor's office is acting for the board in this matter. I understand financial terms have been agreed with the vendors and that the legal process is finally nearing conclusion, with key title documents to be produced by the vendors' solicitor to permit the transaction to go through. The matter is being dealt with at a most senior level in the Chief State Solicitor's office.

The Minister welcomes these developments and looks forward to the commencement of the building works. Everyone is deeply frustrated with the pace of progress in this matter, but I assure the Deputy that everything that can be done is being done to bring the matter to finality. As a contingency, the Office of Public Works advertised recently for the purchase of a new site for the station. I hope it will not be necessary to invoke this contingency.

The building works will commence as soon as possible after conclusion of the legal formalities. The Office of Public Works has advanced matters as far as possible and will be ready to start work within a matter of weeks of the closure of the sale. A detailed brief of requirements has been prepared by the Garda Síochána and a sketch scheme has been prepared by the Office of Public Works and approved by Garda management. The Garda representative bodies were consulted at each step of the process.

The last time the Minister spoke on an Adjournment debate on this matter, he indicated that he would look at the roles of the various parties in the Garda building programme to streamline processes wherever possible. Since then, the introduction of various sections of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 has enabled this restructuring to take place. The Garda Commissioner has, since 14 July last, been made Accounting Officer for the Garda Vote. Accordingly, appropriate administrative procedures have been put in place to enable direct communications and business to be carried out between the Office of Public Works and the Garda authorities without the need to channel such communications through the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. In addition, as part of the major civilianisation drive for the force, a new civilian accommodation manager with the requisite skills in this area has been appointed.

While the delays in Dunmanway have been protracted, this should not detract from the overall investment in the Garda building programme. Between 2005 and the end of this year, the Office of Public Works will spend €112 million on the Garda building programme. Under the National Development Plan 2007-2013, funding of €260 million is provided towards refurbishment of Garda premises and is included in the capital provisions of the Office of Public Works. This capital funding is in addition to the Garda budget, which across all areas for 2007 is more than €1.4 billion, an 11% increase on 2006.

In addition, the Garda building maintenance budget has been increased this year by €2.1 million to €8.36 million. A major refurbishment and replacement programme of Garda accommodation is under way. Throughout the State, stations large and small that are in most need of attention are prioritised and proactively replaced or renovated under a range of different schemes. These are unprecedented levels of funding and are making a lasting impact.

I assure the Deputy that the matter is receiving attention at the highest level both within the Office of Public Works and the Chief State Solicitor's office to bring it to a successful conclusion.

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