Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

That is a fair point. With regard to the Deputy's first question about the barracks that are being sold to other State agencies, VECs, etc., the procedure will be to have valuers employed by the Department to give a proper valuation on these properties. That is the price we charge, essentially.

On the question of whether there is any great indication at the moment re St. Bricin's or other properties that might be available such as McGee Barracks in Kildare, there short answer is there is not. I take the Deputy's point that if one sets up a public tender at the moment one will probably get a very bad price. The Department is disposed to hold on to see whether the market improves. The Deputy's point is very valid. There is the possibility if they are put out to tender that some speculator could purchase them at a very low value and leave them there in the hope that property values could increase, while allowing them to go derelict. That is a very real fear and we shall bear it in mind. We had intended to wait until the market improved.

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