Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

Is there something we have missed with regard to Government plans to drastically slim down the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government? According to the figures there is a cutback of over 31%. There is also a cutback of over 60% in the heritage section. I am concerned about some of our historical and heritage properties. Is it the intention to have the section subsumed within some other section of the Department? I am particularly concerned about Killarney House, which is falling into rack and ruin. This is a major tourist attraction both within the town and in the national park in Killarney. It would be disastrous if something like that were to suffer because we need to boost tourism. I do not know if the Leader has any information on this.

Deputy Noonan made a very good point on NAMA in the other House yesterday. NAMA has the largest property portfolio and we have a stagnant property market at the moment. He made a worthwhile suggestion that NAMA should release some properties to get a proper floor on the market so people can lose this image that the market will fall further. We could at least establish a floor. That is a very worthwhile proposal and we should commend it.