Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House regarding an issue I have been asked to raise. The Minister of State will be familiar with the restructuring of the Defence Forces and the various commands within them during the early years of the Government. As part of this, a number of barracks were closed down including Clonmel and Mullingar. The Minister of State was in Clonmel on the day of the last walking out of the soldiers from the barracks, as was I.

Commitments were given to interested organisations that the barracks around the country would be put to good use. I commend the Minister of State on the work he is doing to ensure the Clonmel barracks is an integral part of the infrastructure of the area. However, in Mullingar, a group, which we should all respect, the Irish United Nations Veterans Association, IUNVA, was given the opportunity to use part of a building in the barracks, the officers' mess, for meeting and holding social events. The IUNVA has sought a long-term lease on the section in order to secure tenure and ensure it could develop and upgrade it as it saw fit.

Although the issue has been dragging on for well over a year, the IUNVA has received no positive response, only excuses why the property section of the Department will not make a decision about it. It was told the local GAA club was going to take over the whole barracks area, including the lands, and sub let the IUNVA section to it. This seems to have fallen through. Then, the IUNVA was told it had to wait, given that there was a possibility the barracks would be used for refugees. Based on research I have done, this is clearly not the case. Since then, the IUNVA has received no answer.

In recent weeks and months, Mullingar Boxing Club has taken up residence in the dining room area. It is a great initiative to use the building, as the Government said it would, to provide services in the community. However, surely the IUNVA, whose members have served the country at home and overseas as members of one of the proudest armies in the world, should be treated with respect and receive security of tenure. The foot-dragging that is happening in the Department property section should stop. There is some kind of log jam which should be explained to the local people involved under the chairman, Eddie Robinson, and to the national organisation.

A lease should be put in place, for which the IUNVA is prepared to pay. In other buildings in other parts of the country, the leases were given at a minimal cost and they ensured the buildings were used. No group is more deserving than the IUNVA.The time for dragging the feet on this, a small issue which, has gone on for well over a year. It must finish today. I await the response of the Minister of State.