Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is a very simple issue. I have been in contact with a member of An Garda Síochána who would be very happy, should the opportunity arise, to take up an offer of official accommodation in Buttevant, County Cork. He is a person of impeccable character, as are his family. I have been going around the houses on this issue with the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran. I have asked a number of parliamentary questions as to whether it would be possible to ensure the house in question would be allocated to the individual garda. While it requires some refurbishment, it is nothing major. The case speaks to the wider issue of the significant number of official Garda residences nationally which are empty at this time. With a little investment and refurbishment, it would be possible to place gardaí and their families in these residences which would give them a footprint and a great presence in local communities which might not otherwise have it. There are more than 300 such residences nationally, some of which are occupied, while others are not.

I asked the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, the state of play. I got a lovely letter back from him stating that while Buttevant Garda station is in the ownership of the Commissioners of Public Works, matters relating to Garda accommodation do not come under the remit of his office and are instead a matter for An Garda Síochána. The application came up the line through the ranks of An Garda Síochána and it was sent back down the line again because the Garda was told this was a matter for the OPW.

I am confused. I would dearly love to be able to say to the person who has come to me that their application is being considered seriously because the applicant is a member of the Garda and this is an official Garda residence, but it seems that somewhere it is getting caught between the Department of Justice and Equality and the OPW. It seems that the Commissioners of Public Works, quite simply, do not want to deal with this issue.

I am sure that the Minister of State will tell me here today that it is not necessarily a matter for the Department of Justice and Equality on the basis that it does not have the resources to make such refurbishments of official dwellings, but I would hope that the Government, through the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, who in fairness is a straight man and an honourable person, his colleagues in the Independent Alliance and the Ministers in Fine Gael, would deal with the issue of Garda accommodation because it represents an opportunity to put gardaí and their families into unoccupied residences. For the want of a few bob, and a small few bob at that, it would represent good value for money because it would put gardaí back into the communities, particularly in rural settings.

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