Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree wholeheartedly with the Senator's final comment. It is critical for the Department to engage in such a way.I will revert to the Senator with a response on that. Appropriate cost control is important, given the inflationary pressures, which were mentioned in the previous Commencement matter as well. We are in exceptional times and it requires a high level of engagement between our Department, the local authority and other local authorities on this. We commit to that engagement.

The Senator made a point on trades and traditional skills in respect of the barracks and the historic core. These buildings require a specific set of skills and in many cases there is a deficit in those skills, which we are working to address in developing a national programme for traditional skills, which is an important measure. Bridging the gap and dealing with those escalating costs is something the Department will sit down and work with the local authority on in this specific case.