Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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347. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if his Deparment has conducted any impact assessment on the outsourcing of management of heritage sites; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4016/14]

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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The Office of Public Works (OPW) is responsible for about 780 National Monuments sites in State care. Maintenance and upkeep of these National Monuments is a statutory function of the Commissioners of Public Works under National Monuments legislation dating back to the 1930’s and is undertaken by experienced OPW architectural conservation staff and a network of skilled local direct labour based at 6 Depot locations around the country. In addition to the statutory function relating to the maintenance and upkeep of the National Monuments portfolio, the OPW is also responsible for the presentation of a number of sites to visitors. Currently, full guided visitor services are provided at 70 heritage sites each year; 24 of them presented on a fulltime basis and the remaining 46 on a seasonal basis generally within the period between April and September. In 2013, approx 4.2m visitors were admitted to these sites and a much greater number, perhaps in excess of 10m, visited the unattended sites within the entire estate.

As is apparent from the foregoing, maintenance of the National Monuments portfolio and the delivery of visitor services at even a relatively limited number of heritage sites is a considerable undertaking. Clearly, given the scale of this operation and bearing in mind the difficulties being experienced by the Exchequer in recent times, it has been incumbent on the OPW to examine the heritage portfolio in the same way as every other part of its responsibility and consider whether this service can be delivered more efficiently and with greater economy on behalf of the taxpayer. OPW is therefore considering a range of measures including outsourcing of non-core elements to private sector contractors. There are a range of functions such as maintenance and upkeep of modern visitor buildings for example that need not be performed by skilled National Monuments staff and which should therefore be done by others and arrangements are being made, where appropriate, to ensure that this happens.

The impact of the various measures that are being considered will be assessed relative to a number of key criteria including more efficient use of scarce skilled staff resources, financial economy and, perhaps most critically, whether there is a potential impact on the statutory function assigned to the Commissioners of Public Works for the maintenance and upkeep of the National Monument portfolio. The measures will also have regard to staff employed by the OPW and none of the initiatives being contemplated currently will involve the displacement of any serving staff.