Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail)

If we have to wait until after the referendum, when he is brought out of the closet again, I have no difficulty with that. It is important that he attend the House to discuss the effect of the closure of Garda stations throughout the country on policing, particularly in rural areas.

On Monday, the Minister signed off on the sale of the former Army barracks in Longford for €450,000. I ask him to come to the House to discuss the philosophy of robbing Peter to pay Paul that seems to exist within the Department of Defence. The barracks were sold to Longford County Council for €450,000. This is taking €450,000 from the county council at a time when the roads in that county and other developments are badly in need of funding. At the same time, he is going around trying to get State agencies to buy the other barracks he closed earlier in the year. I call on him to stop trying to find a buyer within the State sector for Dún Uí Neill Barracks in Cavan, and to reopen the barracks in light of the Taoiseach's comments in this Chamber to the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly last week, in which he stated that dissident paramilitaries posed a real threat not only to the North of Ireland but to this State. I ask that the Minister - and the Taoiseach, when he comes to the House - clarify exactly what they meant by saying that, while at the same time standing over the closure of Dún Uí Neill Barracks in Cavan.