Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 25 Mar 2003

Vol. 563 No. 4

Decentralisation Programme.

Mr. O'Dowd

All the information I have about the issue I am about to raise was found under the Freedom of Information Act. The Government decided in 2000 to decentralise the Passport Office. The areas of choice the Department was charged to investigate were south County Louth – Drogheda – and north County Dublin, with the various factors involved being weighed up for each location. The most important factors were proximity to the airport and transport to the city centre. The relocation of more than 200 people from Dublin city centre to Drogheda or north County Dublin would be a welcome addition to my constituency and town.

The Department was looking for a ready-made 25,000 square foot building. Such buildings were examined in Drogheda, Swords and other parts of County Dublin. The one place that was not looked at was Balbriggan because it had no such building. It was not on the cards that Balbriggan would be the site.

Reading the minutes of the meetings held in the Department and with other Departments, however, we find out that arising from a political initiative involving the Minister of State at the time, Deputy Cullen, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Balbriggan was brought into play. The Department stated firmly there was no case to be made for Balbriggan, however wonderful that town might be, because there was no facility available for examination at that location. No building existed and, therefore, it could not be considered. Again, the question was posed: why not Balbriggan? The answer was that, even if what was being proposed was a greenfield site, there was no planning permission for such a site. Even if it were to be built with the greatest possible haste, having got that planning permission, it would be delivered one year late. In other words, the Department wanted a building there and then and, since the Balbriggan facility involved a delay of one year, it was not acceptable to Department officials.

At that point, the trail goes cold because the documents which have not been released to me relate to the reason the Department decided in favour of Balbriggan. I hope the Minister of State has the answer to that for me and my constituents. The reality is that if the Department ultimately decided on a greenfield site, its brief should have included consideration of greenfield sites in Drogheda and Balbriggan. What would be the difference between such sites, if they existed? The one in Balbriggan had neither planning permission nor any building on it. In Drogheda, we had a building of 25,000 sq. ft. with which the Department was not entirely satisfied. We also had a greenfield site with planning permission for not just one, but two units of 25,000 sq. ft. and one of 49,000 sq. ft.

However, nobody chose to make inquiries in that regard. There was a political failure on the part of this Government, the Minister from the constituency concerned, Deputy Dermot Ahern, and his party colleague, Deputy Kirk. They failed to grasp this wonderful opportunity for the town of Drogheda to secure a magnificent, first class, state-of-the-art passport office involving over 200 jobs and I charge them with that failure. Nobody in the Department or on the political side looked at the issues in relation to Drogheda. That failure in relation to my town rests ultimately with this Government. What have we got from this Government? There is no funding for a swimming pool. The Government has, very kindly, provided toll roads directly at the entrance to our town. It has ignored Drogheda in the context of the spatial strategy. It has given us an incinerator, thanks to the policy of the then Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Noel Dempsey. The passport office, apparently, is not for our town. That situation is simply not acceptable. I expect an adequate explanation from the Minister of State for the serious situation which has arisen whereby a town was turned down although it had a choice of buildings and a greenfield site to offer. A passport office and related jobs were lost forever to our town. We are deeply concerned over this issue.

I am not sure whether a contract for the project has been signed as yet. It is my understanding that it has not been signed and that may be the reason further information was not released to me, as it was part of the Department's process. There is still time for the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Dermot Ahern, to intervene and secure this office for Drogheda.

Mr. M. Ahern

The matter raised by Deputy O'Dowd relates to a major project which the Department of Foreign Affairs has commenced to upgrade and modernise Ireland's passport service. There has been a significant increase in the number of passport applications over the last ten years, reflecting the increased levels of prosperity in the country and the existing systems used in the Passport Office are reaching the limits of their capacity. There is, therefore, an urgent need to improve both the technological systems and the business processes. In doing so, the Department intends to take advantage of significant advances in passport issuing technology in recent years to increase the security of the passport booklet and provide a better service to the public.

The project was launched in August 2001 with the publication of a request for tender in the Official Journal of the European Union. A number of proposals was received and, after a careful evaluation process, the successful bidder was selected last June. Following extensive contract negotiations which reflected both the scale and complexity of the project, work commenced in January of this year. The project is due to be completed in the autumn of next year. A feature of this project is the need for a new passport production facility to house the complex machinery that will be used to print the new passports. The public offices of the Passport Office will continue to operate at Molesworth Street, Dublin, and South Mall, Cork. What is involved, therefore, is the relocation of part of the Passport Office's operation and not the entire office as suggested by the Deputy.

In the context of the Government's programme on decentralisation, it was agreed with the Department of Finance that the new passport production facility would be located in the north County Dublin/south County Louth area. As the Deputy will be aware, the provision of offices for Departments is the responsibility of the Office of Public Works. The Department of Foreign Affairs requested the Office of Public Works to source a premises in the area agreed with the Department of Finance. On foot of this request, the Office of Public Works, in January 2002, invited estate agents to identify suitable office accommodation in the north County Dublin/south County Louth areas that would be available for occupation by September 2002, which was the best estimate at that time of the date on which the accommodation would be required.

Many properties and locations were examined by officials of the Department and the Office of Public Works. One was a factory that made telecommunications equipment. The offices attached to the factory were not totally unsuitable but the offices and the factory floor were an integrated whole. The Passport Office required office space but did not need manufacturing assembly space. The factory space could not have been reconfigured to meet the needs of the Passport Office and would, in any event, have been too large.

Some other properties surveyed were located in isolated places without convenient public transport. These were not considered suitable as many of the staff in the Passport Office do not have their own private transport. Some of the office spaces examined were too small to meet the needs of the Passport Office. Others were designed in such a way that it would have been difficult to reconfigure them to make them suitable for the Passport Office. The planned building at Balbriggan had the advantage that it could be custom built to cater for the requirements of the Passport Office. Its location close to Dublin Airport was also considered to be an advantage since the production of all passports, including those applied for by Irish citizens abroad, will be centralised in the new production facility. It was also, importantly, the best value for money of the properties considered for the new office.

At the time of the initial search, the Balbriggan proposal was not considered to be a viable option because it appeared that the building proposed, which had not got to planning stage, would not have been available on time. In the event, because of the complexity of the project and the fact that the successful bidder was leading a consortium that comprised a number of different companies providing different elements of the project, the contract negotiations took longer than expected. As a result, the timeframe for the delivery of the new passport premises was extended to September 2003. The Office of Public Works was informed of this and asked to continue its search for a suitable premises for the new passport production facility. The developers of the Fingal Bay business centre at Balbriggan, a public private partnership of Fingal County Council and Howard Holdings, received planning permission on 27 March 2002 for a building that could meet the requirements of the new passport office and submitted a proposal for a stand-alone building to the Office of Public Works.

The Balbriggan proposal, together with a number of others in the north County Dublin area, was carefully assessed by experts in the Office of Public Works and a report on the suitability of four possible premises for the new passport facility was forwarded to the Department of Foreign Affairs on 2 July 2002. This report was examined within the Department and a recommendation was submitted to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on 22 July 2002. This recommendation was that the building proposed at the Fingal Bay business centre was the most suitable for the needs of the Passport Office, subject to the provision of assurances by the developers that the building would be completed on time to meet the requirements of the project. The Office of Public Works was in a position to give such an assurance in September 2002 and the developers of the Balbriggan location, together with the developers at two other locations, were invited to submit costing proposals for supply of the premises and fit-out of the offices. Based on these proposals, the Office of Public Works carried out negotiations on a contract and informed the Department of Foreign Affairs on 29 January 2003 that it had accepted the offer of the developers of the Fingal Bay business park in Balbriggan for the provision of a building and fit-out for the new passport premises.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs appreciates the Deputy's disappointment that a suitable location was not identified in his constituency. However, the decision making process in relation to the selection of the new passport office was fairly conducted, based throughout on objective criteria and the Minister is satisfied that the result was the correct one. The Minister has full confidence that the building to be supplied at Balbriggan will be a high quality flagship, both for the Government's decentralisation programme and for the process of modernising the public services. He is happy that the Office of Public Works has negotiated the most economically advantageous contract with the Fingal Bay business park developers. He looks forward to the delivery of the fitted-out premises by 1 September 2003, in accordance with the work programme for the passport project which will enable the project to be completed by the planned date of autumn 2004.