Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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649. To ask the Minister for Health the steps he will take to repurpose disused and vacant HSE-owned buildings for community facilities or other uses; if his attention has been drawn to the high number of these properties in County Wicklow; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22655/23]

Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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650. To ask the Minister for Health his views on the proposal from some local authorities to take up long-term leases on vacant and disused HSE-owned buildings, with a view to repurposing these buildings for community use; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22660/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I, and my Department, welcome the proposals from some local authorities to take up long-term leases on vacant and disused HSE-owned buildings where the properties have been identified as being surplus to health care needs.

My department has engaged with both the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY), and the Department of Housing,over the course of 2022 and 2023 in relation to the sourcing of properties which may be suitable for use in providing accommodation for refugees, and also under Housing For All.

As part of this engagement, the Department of Health has provided to DCEDIY and the Department of Housing a comprehensive overview of those properties currently owned by the HSE and surplus to health service requirements which may be suitable for the provision of accommodation. Some 300 properties were identified in the overview and details of these properties were provided to DCEDIY in 2022. Details of these properties have also been circulated to Local Authorities.

A number of properties in Country Wicklow were included in the list, 2 of which are already progressing through the official HSE property disposal process. A number of other properties in County Wicklow were identified as potentially available and are under review.

The Department of Health is engaging with the HSE to help ensure that properties which may be identified by Minister O’Gorman’s Department as suitable for use in providing accommodation for refugees can be made available as soon as is practicable.

While DCEDIY continues to engage with the HSE on the list of properties, HSE Estates advise that DCEDIY has not taken over any properties at present.

In addition to the comprehensive list of properties, the HSE have also seconded a key member of their estate accommodation team to the Interdepartmental Ukrainian Refugee Accommodation response.

The HSE must follow the official process for the disposal of properties by State bodies and agencies. When a HSE property has been vacated by a service it is necessary to establish if it is surplus to requirements and decide to retain the property in the healthcare estates. If the property is to be disposed of, the process hierarchy is set out as follows:

- Offer the property to the LDA via written notification.

- Should the LDA not choose to take up the property, under DPER Circulars 11/2015 & 17/2016 the HSE must then offer the property to other State Stakeholders via the State Property Register.

- Should no other State Stakeholders take up the property, the HSE then places the property for sale on the open market.

Should a local authority identify HSE property which they believe could be repurposed for community use, the local authority should contact the HSE in the first instance to determine if the property is vacant and surplus to health care needs.

The Department of Health and the HSE will continue to support the whole-of-government response to the important issues of providing accommodation for refugees and Housing for All.