Seanad debates

Wednesday, 16 April 2003

Central Mental Hospital: Motion.

 

Having some finance background, I would be temperamentally opposed to ringfencing appropriations that come from one area and transferring them to another. The Office of Public Works, which at one time had a particular reputation, in recent years enjoys a very high reputation in Government as being a very efficient and dynamic organisation. It has had resources in the past ten or 12 years which it did not have before and it has done an enormous amount of good work in the management and refurbishing of property. We see the effects in, for example, refurbished courthouses. A comment was made earlier in this debate regarding improvements that have been made in prisons, and we need such improvements in the areas that Senator Henry has spoken about too. From my experience of working with successive Taoisigh, whose Department has maintained close contact with the Office of Public Works, I am aware of the significant amount of work carried out by the Office of Public Works on refurbishing and cleaning up these premises, Government Buildings and other locations around the country. However, I have to disagree with Senator Henry on one point. Many Garda stations are in an unsatisfactory condition.

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