Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Byrne for raising this important matter in respect of the Coast Guard projects in Courtown and Arklow. I saw that this had been tabled as a Commencement matter, so I wanted to come in as Minister of State with responsibility to provide him with an update. I will do it slightly out of sequence to the response and deal with Arklow first.

The Irish Coast Guard division of the Department of Transport has 44 units based in 58 Coast Guard stations. The Coast Guard building fund, which includes for the provision of new or upgraded facilities at a number of locations, is managed by the OPW on behalf of the Department of Transport. These projects are funded by the Department of Transport. The programme is overseen by a programme oversight group consisting of representatives from the Department, the Coast Guard service and the OPW. My office provides advice and assistance on the design of such projects, site feasibility studies, acquisition of sites, planning and detailed design, contractor procurement and management of delivery in line with requirements of the Department of Transport and the Coast Guard service.

With regard to the Arklow project, the OPW completed detailed design for a single-storey extension to the existing Coast Guard rocket cart house. The planning applications was submitted in 2023. The decision to grant permission to the proposal of the extension was made by Wicklow County Council on 5 December 2023, with final grants received on 25 January 2024.

The OPW is currently undertaking procurement for services of a consultant civil and structural engineer to complete the design team. In tandem, a fire safety certificate and disabled access applications are being prepared and will be lodged with the local authority in the coming weeks. The timeline for approval of these following lodgement is a minimum of eight weeks. It is anticipated that the new tender process will commence in the coming months, with a contract awarded in quarter 1 of 2025. Construction will commence on completion of the tender process. The appointment of a contractor will be granted subject to statutory approvals.Construction of new facilities are currently estimated to take approximately nine months from commencement to completion.

To go back to Courtown, I understand the Senator’s frustration and I undertake to follow up on the particular issue raised and come back to him in the next week. The existing Courtown Coast Guard station is a single room limestone-built building, originally designed for storage of rescue equipment. It is situated at a busy intersection of three roads and has no available off-road area to park. The OPW carried out some minor remedial works to the building in the past to provide dry storage and office space and to address essential health and safety issues. While the building works have alleviated some of the problems, the use of the facility in its current form is unsustainable. As the current site is only slightly larger than the building footprint and is bordered to the rear by a steep river gully, there is very limited capacity for any expansion or upgrade of the facility. Since this matter was last raised - in fairness to Senator Byrne, it has been consistently raised by him - the OPW has liaised with the Irish Coast Guard to progress proposing a new location for the Coast Guard station in Courtown.

As outlined previously, a number of potential sites in the ownership of the local authority had been put forward by the Coast Guard but these sites are no longer available. The OPW continued to engage with Wexford County Council and received clarity in June 2023 as to a potential site that, subject to the completion of legal due diligence, may be available.# In addition, a market trawl identified a number of other potential sites that may meet the requirements of the Coast Guard. The OPW completed the appraisal process in all sites identified. As part of the appraisal process feasibility studies were carried on the potential sites to ensure that all Coast Guard requirements can be provided for and there is no impediment to the proposed development which will be subject to planning. Following completion of the feasibility studies, the preferred site was selected following consultation between the OPW and the Department of Transport in March 2024. The OPW is still in active negotiations with the owners of the preferred site, but this is a very early and commercially sensitive stage. As the process is still ongoing, the OPW is not in position to provide further information on individual sites at this time.

The next step, following authorisation of funding by the Department of Transport, is completion of due diligence and acquisition of the preferred site. Obviously, this has to be done in line with infrastructural guidelines. Once a suitable site is acquired, the OPW will assign a project team to commence the planning and detailed design stages of the project. The tender process will then follow and the OPW will manage the delivery of the new Coast Guard facility in Courtown, while continuing to work closely with colleagues in the Department of Transport to deliver on the overall Coast Guard programme. Unfortunately, at this time it is not possible to provide a commencement date for the start of the construction of a new Coast Guard facility in Courtown.

I will go back and take a more extensive look at the process involved, although obviously not in any way interfering with the process, but to see where things stand. I understand the urgency around this project. I assure Senator Byrne that the OPW is committed to continue its work with Department of Transport and the Coast Guard Service to deliver on a station in Courtown and the upgrade works in Arklow.