Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

Senator Daly raised a very important matter, to which I also wish to refer. It was an horrendous act and a frightful insult to the accredited ambassador of a friendly government to refuse him the right to visit Valentia coastguard station to thank the men for the valiant efforts over so many years. This is a tremendous facility which is very well located and staffed by wonderfully qualified people who do great work. It is a place of outstanding merit and the ambassador wanted to visit it, not just to thank the staff for all they have done, but to mark the historic links between Valentia and Spain, Dingle and La Coruña, mainly through fishing and other activities about which we know from our history. I wish to protest in the strongest terms and ask the Leader to raise the issue with the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Whoever authorised that decision should be ashamed of himself or herself in this democratic State.

There has been much mention recently of the fact that the Office of Public Works will dispose of dozens of properties in Dublin. The OPW is responsible for over 2,100 buildings. Perhaps much of the disposal arises from the decentralisation programme but the OPW is paying €82 million annually in rent in Dublin and approximately €9.5 million outside the capital. I would like to know — I have asked this several times before — how many buildings are owned and how many are leased by the OPW. We had the famous Parlon inventory during the last Dáil but I do not think anybody ever saw it. There was a lot of talk about it, particularly from the then Minister of State. Now we hear that the OPW is currently identifying all State properties but surely to God it must have this information already. To give the OPW credit, it has been a good manager of State properties in the past. I call for a special debate on the strategy regarding State properties, with the participation of the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy Martin Mansergh. I ask the Leader to arrange a special debate on the matter. This is how, with proper management, we can save the taxpayers' millions.