Results 5,061-5,080 of 35,563 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Hang on, now. That is like saying we were asked to build at a point in time, we built for that and that was it, and we were not worried about looking into the future. If we were building infrastructure in the State on that basis, God forbid what would happen. It is akin to saying that we will build a broadband network and not take into account the capacity of population growth, future...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Let us deal with some facts here. Does the Minister of State accept that the OPW stated on the record in 2016 that the number of people who would need to be moved was 1,090?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: It has been put to the Department by newspaper journalists. Are any of the departmental officials able to confirm that figure? It is on the record,

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: It is on the record that the OPW has stated that the number of gardaí who needed to be moved at that time in 2016 was 1,090.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Okay, so the figure is 1,090. The Minister of State has said it is appropriate to build in a contingency, is that right?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Of course, it is appropriate to build in a contingency. The Minister of State should not throw away glib comments about building extra floors to lie empty.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: No, it is not.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: With-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: It is a contingency.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Let me deal with this. A total of 1,090 were assigned to headquarters and needed to be moved. The Minister of State said the OPW built in a contingency of 20% which means it should build for about 1,300, yet it built for 880. That is why 500 gardaí are without a place in Military Road. It is not rocket science.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: That is quite simple. If 1,090 gardaí needed to be moved-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: -----from headquarters-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister of State asked a question; he does not want to hear the answer. If 1,090 gardaí needed to be moved from headquarters, at the very start I would build enough accommodation for those individuals and then build in a contingency, which is probably appropriate, of 20%.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: First of all, the OPW has already had to go to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform with a request to rent out more accommodation because the place it built and turned the key for last November does not have enough spaces in it.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: There are hundreds of gardaí with no place in headquarters.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: How many-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I am answering the question. How many gardaí are going to be-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: No.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister of State asked the question. It is very simple. In 2016 when the OPW said that there were 1,090-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (22 Feb 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Exactly. When 1,090 gardaí need to be moved, the starting point for me if I were Minister of State would be to build accommodation for at least the 1,090 individuals and then build in a bit of contingency. The Minister of State decided not to do that.