Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I am not familiar with the site, but I can assure the Deputy that the HSE would be very interested in working with local communities if there were viable proposals for its future use. Clearly, they would have to be stand-alone proposals. I am sure any Department would support a local initiative of that nature. I will ask the Minister of State with responsibility for housing, Deputy Damien English, to examine whether there are opportunities and demands in the area. The Deputy will be aware that there has been a considerable trawl of properties in State ownership in an effort to respond to social housing needs. Where a property is identified, the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government is keen to support proposals for its use, but they must make sense in the context of the social housing programme in meeting demands and so on. The Minister, Deputy Michael Ring, has reminded me that this year Killarney House was restored as part of an initiative taken by Fáilte Ireland and the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Heather Humphreys. That is indicative of the Government's interest in restoring assets that can become considerable tourist attractions for communities. I will bring the Deputy's concerns to the attention of the appropriate Ministers to see what can be done to respond to them. If there is a local group that is putting plans together for which there is a solid business case, the Government will be keen to examine them in the context of whether they could be factored in in planning the future use of the site.

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