Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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323. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 548 of 21 April 2021, if he will provide a schedule of the 40 former Garda stations that are flagged for disposal and or alternative use; the company that will be used to conduct the planned auctions; and if he will provide a further schedule of the stations that will be included in the auction. [22161/21]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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The Office of Public Works (OPW) plans to dispose of 28 of the 40 former Garda stations closed in 2012 and 2013 as part of An Garda Síochána’s rationalisation programme and remaining in State ownership by auction in 2021 and 2022.

In addition to the sale of the 28 former Garda stations the OPW plans to transfer three former Garda stations to Local Authorities, lease a further three to a Local Authority for community use and licence five directly to community groups. One former Garda station is sale agreed and is scheduled to close in the next couple of weeks.

A schedule of the above is provided in Appendix A.

Former Garda Stations Closed Under the 2012 and 2013 Policing Plans (40)

The OPW had a planned disposal programme in place and a number of auctions were planned for 2020.  However, the disposal programme was interrupted due to Covid-19 and associated restrictions meant those auctions had to be rescheduled on a number of occasions.

The OPW plan to hold four auctions later in 2021 but this will be subject to Covid-19 restrictions and may have to be rescheduled again if restrictions continue.  There are currently three auctions planned for 2022. It is also planned to dispose of other surplus properties at these auctions subject to Contracts for Sale being prepared. A schedule of the auction of the 28 properties is provided at Appendix B.

As a matter of policy, no property or site is disposed of until there is absolute certainty that there is no alternative State use for that property. The OPW’s approach to managing vacant properties is firstly, to establish if the property is required for alternative State use, including the potential for it to be re-purposed either for Government Departments or the wider public service. A number of strategic properties or sites are retained in anticipation of potential State use/development in line with service demands arising from Government policy changes to public service provision.

Secondly, if no State use is identified, the OPW considers if open market disposal is an option, depending on prevailing market conditions.

Thirdly, 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.

Before the former Garda station properties are placed on the market, the services of an auctioneer are procured to manage the marketing strategy and public auction.  All legal aspects of the transactions are managed by the Chief State Solicitor’s Office.

O’Donnellan Joyce Auctioneers, following a procurement process, have been appointed to manage the next two auctions of properties in the counties of Galway/Mayo and Donegal.

The procurement of auctioneers for later auctions will take place when there is greater certainty of the timing for these auctions following the lifting of Covid-19 travel restrictions.