Results 281-300 of 36,355 for speaker:Pearse Doherty
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: Will commercial retail be allowed in the space?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: I am referring to the vacant space in the main GPO building, which all of us know as the iconic building we see as we walk down the street. That is the part being redeveloped. Is the Minister of State saying that commercial retail will not be allowed in that part?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: Only where it is on Henry Street at the minute.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: Regarding the buildings that the OPW has under its control on O'Connell Street, Nos. 9 to 15 were either owned or leased by the OPW. Does the Minister of State have any information on them? Were they owned? Yes. Are they still owned?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: That is a huge part of O'Connell Street. I am talking about the Clerys side of O'Connell Street. Does the area span the buildings from Burger King right up to the Savoy Cinema?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: They are all five-storey buildings. Does the OPW know the occupancy rate for each storey of those buildings?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: Each storey? Burger King occupies part of one of the premises.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: And Revenue has offices on all of the other four storeys.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: Does Revenue use all four storeys?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: I assume there is a lease arrangement with Revenue. Regarding other buildings on O'Connell Street, OPW owns Nos. 44 and 45. Are those properties vacant?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: Have the properties been vacant since 2018?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: Are there plans for them? The buildings are shuttered and have graffiti and broken windows. One can see them today.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: That is okay.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: If there are plans, please revert to the committee on them.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: We talk about the city centre task force, and these two properties arise in that regard. I have some questions on the old Debtors' Prison on Halston Street and near Capel Street. Before the Minister of State took office, the OPW took housing activists to court to get a court order to evict them from the property. I am not speaking for the housing activists but the reason they were in the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: I appreciate that the Minister of State may not have the answer to my next question but I will ask it so that the information can be provided to the committee. It is suggested that it has cost €1.1 million to maintain the prison for the last five years. The property has lain vacant for decades and housing activists were evicted from it ten years ago. Please confirm how much has been...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: I appreciate that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: I do not have to mention that we are in the middle of a housing crisis and all of the rest.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: The property has lain vacant for more than 30 years. Surely to God somebody in the OPW, instead of building bike sheds out the front, might look at a property there that could be regenerated into housing or something commercially sound. The only action that seems to have taken place is the taking of housing activists to court a decade ago to evict them. However, I appreciate that did not...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (2 Jul 2025)
Pearse Doherty: Can the Minister of State understand our cynicism?