Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

The headquarters of the Department of Defence is being decentralised to Newbridge, County Kildare. A new building to accommodate the Department is currently under construction and will be ready for occupation in the summer. The building will provide accommodation for the civil servants in the Department who are currently based in Dublin, together with a number of military personnel. The Secretary General and the Chief of Staff, together with their respective senior civilian and military colleagues, will also be relocated to Newbridge. As this will be the headquarters of the Department, the office of the Minister will also be based there. In line with normal practice for Ministers, the Minister will retain an office in Leinster House. No new office arrangements or staff are being put in place to facilitate the Minister's presence in Dublin and, therefore, no costs arise.

In order to facilitate the conduct of business at the Houses of the Oireachtas and other business engagements in Dublin, it has been decided that officials of Departments whose headquarters are decentralised should have access to office accommodation in close proximity to the Houses of the Oireachtas. The Office of Public Works has provided accommodation to the Department of Defence for this purpose at Phoenix House, South Leinster Street.

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