Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)

The Minister of State referred to the potential loss to local communities and I take on board his comment that the previous closure of barracks did not result in significant numbers of personnel moving. Regardless of that, the closures will result in additional costs to them and that will have a knock-on effect on local communities. I asked in my question whether a cost benefit analysis had been conducted on the impact of the closures rather than the Government presuming there would not be an impact. Was such an analysis done on the potential losses, for example, to local businesses that supply barracks or to local authorities through lost commercial rates, etc., when local businesses close or following an increase in social welfare claims? Was a document produced that outlined step by step the potential losses to local economies?

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