Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am left feeling a bit cold after that answer, to be honest. It is not the Minister of State's fault - I know it is not his Department - but there was absolutely nothing in that that we did not know. I want to know why the projects were decoupled. When was that decision made? We all know the two Garda stations were decoupled. Why was that done? Why did the Minister say in October 2022 that the projects were proceeding as normal and then a couple of months later, they were decoupled because there was a big issue going on with the Hammond Lane project? I find it hard to believe that the Department did not have sight of the issue in question in October 2022. Then this was announced in August of this year. Why did the Minister not see fit to make any public statement on it? Are the users of the family law courts that unimportant to the Minister?

When will the complex be opened? The Minister of State said it would be in the latter half of the NDP. When is that exactly? We do not know that. He spoke about various strategies being user focused. As already stated, you can have every strategy under the sun but if the court complex is so bad that users do not go ahead with their applications because they cannot actually face going down to that court due to the state the building, it does not matter.

I just want to make a very brief point. The local community in the north inner city of Dublin is one of the most deprived communities in Ireland and they have been living with this huge hole in the ground. Can the Minister of State imagine what that is like for the children growing up in the flats around the area, namely, Greek Street flats or one of the other flat complexes? They are going to school every day and seeing this official neglect, this massive hole in the ground with dirt and rubbish building up in it. For their whole lives, that is all they have seen with this State not proceeding with anything on that site. What does that tell the people of the local community in the north inner city?