I wish to share time with Senator Ulick Burke.
Departmental Properties.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I thank you, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, for allowing me to raise this matter on the Adjournment. There have been reports of the selling off of surplus lands in County Galway for housing. I understand a Government decision was taken in respect of surplus lands held by Departments and agencies. I am aware some lands in the ownership of Departments and agencies are not in use. I often wonder if anyone questioned the intended use of these lands. I am aware that any sale of the 31 acres at St. Brigid's Hospital, Ballinasloe, was to be on the basis that the funding would go towards the psychiatric services in Ballinasloe in east Galway.
Similarly in Athenry where there are Teagasc lands, the question was what lands would go for housing, industrial development or other community and amenity purposes. I cannot understand why this issue was raised in regard to Portumna because it was envisaged that the two acres would be part of the development of the old workhouse.
The issue in Tuam is the most striking of all because €3 million was paid to the Bons Secours order in December 2001 for the Grove Hospital and six acres of land. According to Councillor Kieran Cannon, a member of the Progressive Democrats, the six acres of land are to be sold off. If that happens all that will be left will be old buildings. Our intention was to have the six acres developed. One must ask why the lands and property were bought in the first place.
The bottom line is that the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Deputy Parlon, are being blamed for information that certain individuals in the Health Service Executive gave concerning these lands. To the best of my knowledge the individuals I know in the HSE western area never knew about this issue and would not have that answer. While the lands may not be in use, as public representatives in County Galway and particularly in east Galway, we all know the intended use.
Regarding the health campus proposed for Tuam, an application was made to the Department in October 2002. We await a decision on that issue. Given that design stage was completed in October 2002 we would like to see a hospital there, an Alzheimer's disease unit, a child care training centre, a primary care unit and an ambulance base in Tuam. An ambulance base in Tuam, with two ambulances and perhaps eight staff would cost less than €1 million. There are ambulance bases at Clifden, Carraroe, Galway city and Loughrea, and Ballinasloe is served by Roscommon, but there is no ambulance base or health campus in north Galway. I would like to see such a service and it is an issue on which I have campaigned for a long time.
I would like to give the Minister of State a sample petition after this Adjournment debate. I have been trying to get people to support the call for an ambulance base and a health campus in Tuam. I obtained more than 4,000 signatures which I have given to the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, with a view to expediting the health campus and the ambulance base for Tuam. However, this cannot be done if people such as Councillor Kieran Cannon make statements in the media that lands in the ownership of the Department and its agencies at Tuam, Ballinasloe, Portumna, Athenry and other places are being sold off. Perhaps the Minister of State will clarify these issues and give us the opportunity to develop the health and housing services which about which Councillor Cannon speaks.
I welcome the Minister of State and thank Senator Kitt for sharing time. I endorse what Senator Kitt has said. The rumour in east Galway as a result of statements by a particular councillor has brought uncertainty to the issue, particularly in the case of Tuam where the proposal to sell off six acres of land would eliminate the possibility of ever providing a much needed health facility in the town of Tuam. As a member of the Western Health Board at the time I was part of a delegation to the then Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, which encouraged him to purchase the old Grove Hospital when it was being vacated by the nuns. He subsequently purchased the property. Everybody looked forward to having a new service provided in Tuam to serve north Galway, south Mayo and north Roscommon.
Will the Minister of State clarify if the statement issued by Councillor Cannon is true? The statement indicated that the Taoiseach had directed the sale of lands in Tuam, Ballinasloe and Portumna. The lands in Portumna do not belong to the Health Service Executive, but it had acquired them on the basis that it had a facility on them for many years. While other agencies used the land, it is the land of the old workhouse. A group in Portumna has gone a long way in developing plans for this disused facility over the years. I would hate its plans to be laid aside through the sale to a developer.
As Senator Kitt has said, in Ballinasloe approximately 32 acres of lands adjoining St. Brigid's Hospital are to be sold. Owing to the new proposal for the provision of new psychiatric services adjacent to Portiuncula there are excess lands in Ballinasloe. However, I am sure they could be put to good use for other health facilities in the area. In the case of Tuam it is unacceptable that the hard work by so many people over the years would be cast aside. These six acres of prime land in the middle of the town are ideally suited for the development of the community hospital as promised by the Taoiseach in 2002. We all welcomed that promise and we continue to hope that nobody would interfere with the plan so that it can become a reality.
Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. N. Ahern)
I thank the Senators for raising the matter. The identification and disposal of State land by various Departments and Government agencies for affordable housing is part of the affordable housing initiative. As the House is aware, this initiative was included as part of one of the ten special initiatives in the Sustaining Progress partnership agreement. The initiative is aimed at those who in the past would have expected to purchase a house from their own resources but find that they are unable to do so in the current housing market. The purpose of the initiative is to provide 10,000 affordable housing units through the release of State and local authority lands and through the provisions of Part V of the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2004.
Significant progress continues to be made on the initiative, with more than 70 projects on State and local authority lands planned, which together with a projected 2,500 affordable housing units under Part V gives the 10,000-unit target proposed by the parties to the pay agreement. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government monitors all projects with a view to ensuring early delivery of units.
Under the initiative, the Minister for Agriculture and Food released 22 hectares of land in Athenry. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has engaged with Galway County Council to progress this project. I understand the council proposes to develop an initial phase of approximately 60 affordable housing units on approximately two of the 22 hectares of the site. To this end, preparatory work, including planning consultations, design and trial holes, surveys, etc., has been carried out on this portion of the site. An application for Part 8 approval under the planning regulations was advertised last week. This portion of the site will now go through the normal planning process.
The balance of the Athenry lands, measuring approximately 20 hectares, is the subject of a local area plan and will continue to be on public display until the first week in December. I understand the council will be discussing the outcome of the public consultation process at its December meeting. The use of this portion of the site for the initiative will be assessed in the light of the local area plan process. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will work with the council to ensure the most effective use of the site. The Senators will be aware that the Government released State lands to the initiative in various tranches and late last year agreed to the release of a series of Health Service Executive lands, some of which are in the County Galway area.
The Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Seán Power, in an Adjournment debate in the Dáil on 9 November, indicated that the Health Service Executive is engaged in a process of reviewing the implications of releasing the County Galway sites to the initiative in the context of planned health services development. These may be the sites in Tuam and Ballinasloe mentioned by the Senators. I understand this review will be completed shortly and the outcome of the review will be communicated to both the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and the Department of Health and Children.
These lands are also being examined by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, in consultation with the council, to determine their suitability for the initiative. While the possibility of using lands in some areas has been mentioned, it has not got down to the hard detail of how many sites or how many hectares. Matters did not develop very far. The HSE is reviewing the implications of its previous commitment. My interest is from the point of view of affordable housing. The other land that has been donated from Departments and Government agencies is not bought but is transferred to the affordable housing initiative. No payment would be made in those circumstances for any Health Service Executive development. While the HSE never firmly agreed how much land we would get, it is reconsidering what it is likely to give bearing in mind its own needs.
I will continue to ensure that all projects under the initiative are progressed as speedily as possible with the aim of having the earliest possible delivery of affordable units. We are awaiting the outcome of the deliberations of the HSE regarding those three or four parcels of land in County Galway that were mentioned as possible candidates for the affordable housing initiative.
I am somewhat disappointed by the reply of the Minister of State as I thought he would have been able to tell us what was happening to health projects such as the one in Portumna. Can the Minister of State confirm that housing will not be developed on these sites? The intended use is the most important issue. Plans existed for Tuam and also for Portumna, which involved South East Galway Integrated Rural Development Limited. Who advised the Department that a huge amount of land was available for affordable and social housing as envisaged under the plan? The Tánaiste and in particular the Taoiseach are being blamed for the leak of this information from Government. If it is a Government decision, so be it.
We need to be very clear about what will happen to these lands. I would like an assurance that in the case of Tuam the lands will be used for the health service campus and that the other projects we mentioned should proceed. If the land were given to the local authority there would be no money for the psychiatric services in Ballinasloe.
What is the rumour locally? Is it suggested that the land is being given for the affordable housing initiative or that it is being sold privately?
Both.
As the lands in Tuam are centrally located it is believed they will be used for speculative purposes. In Portumna, South East Galway Integrated Rural Development Limited has a plan for sheltered housing for people with great needs. I presume that a certain proportion of the lands at Ballinasloe will be sold for affordable housing. The spin put on the matter was that the Taoiseach directed that it be disposed of.
Some years ago the Government made an agreement with the social partners. Under that agreement, we agreed to provide 10,000 houses under the affordable housing initiative. We did a trawl of different Departments and agencies for suitable land. The Athenry site was provided by the Minister for Agriculture and Food at the time and the HSE suggested it might have other land available in various locations in County Galway. However, those locations were not tied down and they have not been transferred to us.
In the case of Tuam, the land, on which there was originally a hospital, was bought from a private nursing group by the Western Health Board for the development of health services on the site. The former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, was Minister at the time and made the payment for the site.
My interest is housing. The land coming to us from different Departments and agencies was land that was in their ownership for years and was surplus to any short or medium-term need. It would seem strange, therefore, that land recently bought would be transferred. What we wanted — I am coming at this from the point of view of affordable housing rather than hospital services — was free land or sites to provide affordable housing. If land had been bought privately at high expense, it would not seem to be of value to us unless the Department in question or the HSE was going to give us a present of it and not try to recoup the moneys paid from us.
I have not tied down the land we were offered. We heard from the Department of Health and Children that there was a possibility of some land being available, but that it remained to be sorted out, agreed and examined in greater detail. As far as we are concerned that examination is close to finalisation. It may be that we will get some land to provide affordable housing or it may be that the Department or the HSE will come back to us and say they have less land or no land available to us. We await their decision.
That is our approach. We do not pay for the land and therefore no moneys would cross from my Department. I cannot make statements or give any commitments about developments of the Health Service Executive. I am interested in cheap land on which we can provide affordable housing.
I am surprised the Minister of State did not ask for what use the land in Tuam had been intended. I can tell him it was intended for a hospital.
I do not need to know those details until I am offered the land. Any land we get is deemed surplus land not required for medium-term requirements. However, I have not received any land yet. These sites were only up for consideration. I do not know whether we will get part or all of what was suggested. We expect finalisation of the HSE examination soon.
The Seanad adjourned at 7.55 p.m. until10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 17 November 2005.