Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)

As the Deputy is aware, the OPW is a significant and large organisation with a wide-ranging remit. It is currently processing 100 flood scheme projects and maintains 11,500 km of channel and 800 km of earth embankments. It maintains over 2,000 properties, including offices, Garda stations, parks, gardens, heritage buildings, accommodation for over 50,000 civil servants, which is up by 15,000 over the last ten years, and over 500 office buildings nationwide. It deals with 38,000 client requests through the OPW help desk and with 15 million visitors a year, which is great for our touristed areas.

I assure the Deputy I will not be found wanting as the head of my Department. Since I came to the Department, I inherited the problem everyone mentions in relation to the bike shelter, but I assure the Deputy that rules and regulations have been brought in. With the Department and I working together, along with the chairman of the OPW, I am quite satisfied that what happened in the past will not happen in the future.

The Deputy raised a question on Castletown.

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