Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I can assure the Deputy that we are not going to let anything diminish and die. If she looks at what the Defence Forces have been doing proactively in regard to homelessness in Dublin, for example, she will see that we have made a former military hospital available for shelter for rough sleepers. That has been a very successful initiative and we have had between 20 and 30 people staying in that accommodation most evenings over recent weeks. The Defence Forces have shown a willingness to be proactive and open-minded in terms of how we can use vacant buildings and infrastructure, which would previously have been of use to the Defence Forces but which now may not be, for other purposes in terms of assisting Government and other NGOs with solving difficult problems. We will continue to do that. Where there is infrastructure linked to barracks that are no longer of strategic use, of course, we have an obligation, first and foremost, to check whether there are other State agencies and State bodies which could use them effectively and, if so, whether we should transfer them. If there is no strategic use, then we should look to sell them to the private sector in order that we can raise resources that can be reinvested in terms of improving Defence Forces infrastructure or other public spending.

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