Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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109. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the progress made in the implementation of the property asset management delivery plan; if a database has been compiled detailing all property owned by the State and local authorities; the number of properties that are classified as vacant; his plans for these vacant properties; if these properties are suitable for residential purposes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47241/17]

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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'Accommodating Change – Measuring Success’, the Government’s Property Asset Management Delivery Plan (the Delivery Plan), was published in July 2013. The key objective of the actions in the Plan was to “manage the Public Service property portfolio in a professional, co-ordinated and efficient manner that maximises value for money and facilitates business needs and service provision”.

The Office of Public Works (OPW), with its Chairman as the Delivery Plan’s Senior Responsible Officer, led the development of the Plan. A Steering Group comprising public property stakeholders was established to oversee progress on the delivery of the actions by across the participating State bodies.

Significant progress was made in the implementation of the Delivery Plan actions, as reported in the Final Progress Report on the Public Service Reform Plan 2014-2016 (July 2017). The utility and further development of certain outputs, under many of the actions, is continuing after the designated Reform Plan timeframe.

One of those outputs that will require continued maintenance and development is the Intra-State Property Register. The Register currently has basic details on over 24,000 owned or leased properties by 94 individual organisations, including Central Government, Local Government, the HSE and Non-Commercial State organisations. These properties, in the main, are office and other buildings used by State organisations in the exercise of their functions. There are gaps in the data relating to individual properties. The register is a work-in-progress and efforts are continuing to improve the accuracy of the data on the Register and to fill the gaps where data is missing.

The Intra-State Register is one of a number of inter-linked outputs under the Delivery Plan that provide a platform for a more integrated and strategic management of the State’s Property portfolio. The intention is that holders of State property assets should increasingly view property from a more strategic, State point of view rather than an individual or organisation viewpoint. When an organisation has a property for disposal, the first method of disposal to be considered is the transfer of the surplus property to another State organisation. The State Property Register facilitates this prioritised method of disposal by obliging State organisations with surplusproperty to identify it as such on the Register, and allow other State organisations a minimum of one month to express an interest. It is for this reason that the State Property Register records that a property is ‘surplusto requirements’ rather than ‘vacant’.

I think that there is an important distinction between these two classifications, as ‘surplus to requirements’ indicates that the decision has been made to dispose, which is unlikely to match the number of properties that are vacant but not surplus to requirements. The Register does not record vacant properties.

It is important to note that while the OPW hosts the Register, the properties and the data are the responsibility of each of the 94 State organisations. Each organisation is responsible for the efficient management of those properties. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Circulars issued under the Delivery Plan outline the need for regular review of an organisation’s property needs; and the use of appropriate appraisal processes for all decisions related to the acquisition, disposal and retention of property to ensure that the best use is made of State property assets to achieve value for money.

I understand that the Housing Delivery Office in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government did undertake an exercise to identify those State and semi-State lands that were deemed surplus to requirements in urban areas where housing pressures are most acute. The exercise involved consultation with the various State and semi-State bodies including the OPW. The results of this exercise are on the Rebuilding Ireland website.

My officials in the OPW regularly review our own property portfolio to identify any properties that might be surplus. In the past year, a number of properties have transferred from the OPW to other State bodies to assist in alleviating homelessness.