Barry Ward (Fine Gael)
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This is an issue with which the Acting Chairman is very familiar. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to deal with this matter.He will be aware that in 2012 An Garda Síochána undertook a rationalisation programme, which meant that it looked at whether it needed all its stations throughout the country. As a result of that review, a decision was made to close a number of them, some more controversially than others. Specifically in my area, the Garda station at Kill of the Grange, 300 m away from where I grew up, was one of the ones that was closed. The second one was in Dalkey. Those two buildings have lain idle since they were closed in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Dalkey was closed in June 2012 and Kill of the Grange in April 2013. They are two significant buildings. In the case of Dalkey, it is part of the heritage town. The building itself is an old structure full of character and heritage. The Garda station in Kill of the Grange is slightly more modern but it is still a significant landmark at the bottom of Rochestown Avenue.

These are two buildings that could definitely be put to use, but which have been empty or idle since they closed. I know that people have been living in the buildings in a caretaker capacity. That is something the Office of Public Works, OPW, has done and does with other buildings. I understand that it takes time to repurpose buildings such as these and that there is a process that must be gone through whereby an alternative State function is sought, a building is put on sale or a community function is also considered. That is the order in which the alternatives are considered. I do not have a difficulty with any of that, what I have a difficulty with is that the Garda stations have been closed for ten and nine years, respectively. The communities in those areas have no use of those buildings and the people in those areas have to look at them, essentially derelict or unused. Even though people may be living in them, they are not buildings that are interacting with the community around them, which is a real shame because both buildings are significant landmarks. The Garda station in Dalkey is on Tubbermore Road, a residential road, right in the centre of the village. People live adjacent to it. It is such a beautiful building, and it is a crying shame for it to go unused for so long.

In the case of Kill of the Grange, I understand that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has indicated a preference to purchase the building and that a purchase price has been agreed. I also understand that it was done in 2019 and yet here we are in 2022 and there has been no movement regarding the sale of the property. My understanding of the way these things work is that the Valuation Office sets the purchase price, and the council agrees to it. As far as I know, that has been done, yet Kill of the Grange Garda station is essentially empty and derelict. It is a not insubstantial plot. I do not understand why the council has not bought it yet.

What I am looking for today is some kind of commitment that we will move on with these buildings; that we will recognise that they have a role in the streetscape and the community in which they are based. They can be very easily repurposed and they have a value and we should move on with giving them that value within the community.

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I am responding to this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Finance with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy O'Donovan. I thank Senator Ward for raising the issue, which is rather ironic, allowing for the fact that I also grew up at the opposite end of Rochestown Avenue. I must make that declaration of interest. I well know the two buildings to which the Senator refers. He makes some very valid points in his contribution about them and their role within the community.

The OPW has responsibility on behalf of the State for managing and maintaining a substantial and complex estate, comprising approximately 2,500 properties valued at €3.3 billion in total. This extensive and diverse portfolio of State properties includes office accommodation for all Departments, the property estate for An Garda Síochána and numerous properties for State agencies. The portfolio also encompasses specialised spaces such as public offices, laboratories and cultural institutions, in addition to warehouses, heritage properties, visitor centres and sites. In any major portfolio, there will always be a certain level of vacant properties. It is normal to have an amount of space vacant, or vacant properties, at any given time, as the portfolio could not function without the flexibility that it provides. Not all vacant properties will be deemed surplus to the State's requirements or deemed suitable for disposal.

The OPW has actively pursued its disposal policy in recent years. From 2014 to 2021, the OPW has disposed of 128 surplus properties, generating an income in excess of €22 million. The disposal programme will continue throughout 2022 and 2023 for 99 currently surplus properties, with three auctions already planned. The OPW, by default, consults with local authorities, the HSE, Departments, the Land Development Agency, LDA, and other State bodies in relation to any vacant building or site that is surplus to its requirements.The purpose of the consultation with other State bodies is to ascertain a State use or public interest in advance of a decision to sell on the open market. Over the past number of years, the OPW has facilitated a number of property disposals to other public bodies to help meet challenges in the housing area in particular. If no State use is identified, the OPW considers if open market disposal is an option, depending on prevailing market conditions. Alternatively, the OPW may consider community involvement, subject to a detailed submission that demonstrates that the community or voluntary group seeking to use the property has the means to insure, maintain and manage it in order to reduce costs to the Exchequer. As part of An Garda Síochána's 2012 rationalisation programme, the former Garda station at Dalkey closed on 30 June 2012. From 2014 to 2018, the OPW entered into a pilot guardianship project with Camelot Properties for both the Dalkey and Kill of the Grange properties. In 2019 Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council expressed an interest in acquiring the former Garda station property, a protected structure, for social housing. The council carried out an inspection in late 2019 and subsequently advised the OPW that the property did not meet its requirements, taking account of the substantial costs required to repurpose the property. The OPW received a request in October 2020 to facilitate the housing of Syrian refugees in the property. As the property had already been assessed for housing by the local authority and deemed unsuitable, the OPW was unable to accede to this request. As no alternative State requirement has been identified, the OPW plans to dispose of the property. The registration process is currently being progressed with a view to placing the property on the open market for disposal.

Similarly, the former Garda station at Kill of the Grange closed on 29 April 2013 and a pilot guardianship project was entered into with Camelot Properties in 2014. In 2019 Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council expressed an interest in acquiring the former Garda station property under Department of Public Expenditure and Reform circulars. The OPW requested the Valuation Office to conduct a valuation of the property on 13 February 2020, which was received on 19 November 2020. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council formally advised the OPW in September 2021 that the council wished to proceed with the acquisition of the property and confirmed this in February 2022. The Chief State Solicitor's Office has prepared contracts for sale and the OPW and the council are working to complete the transfer in the coming months.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for that very comprehensive reply.

Barry Ward (Fine Gael)
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I am not sure I agree on how comprehensive the reply is, to be honest. Obviously the Department has set out the basis on which these buildings are repurposed and disposed of. It does not account for the glacial pace at which it is done. The people who live in Dalkey and Kill of the Grange are entitled to expect that these significant buildings in their areas, in the case of Dalkey an historic building, are properly repurposed. It should not take a decade to do that. It should not be the case that I ask this question and now we are told that the Chief State Solicitor's Office, CSSO, is preparing contracts. This is something that should happen as a matter of course. In the course of the Minister of State's response, the suggestion that the OPW has done this for 128 properties over the course of seven years is not something to trumpet as progress. It takes far too long. These are valuable, beautiful buildings in the centre of suburban areas that could absolutely be used tomorrow if the Department was willing to move and to facilitate their sale or whatever it might be. However, the people who live in these areas should not have to live next to vacant, essentially derelict, buildings, when they have perfectly good purposes available to them. I thank the Minister of State for attending. I appreciate the clarity of his answer on one level, but I also feel it is slightly frustrating for people living in the areas.

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator. I hear the points he makes and I fully understand that question of frustration for people living in an area wondering what is happening. As I indicated in my reply, it is the process that when it comes to the former Garda station in Dalkey, the OPW will now prepare the property for sale by public auction for disposal of it in the third quarter of 2022. As I already indicated, Kill of the Grange and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council have identified it as a property they can use and that completed contracts and the transfer of the property should be completed by the second quarter of 2022.