Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 6 Nov 1991

Vol. 412 No. 2

Adjournment Debate. - County Wexford Garda House.

Mr. Howlin

I am deeply grateful to you, a Cheann Comhairle, for the opportunity to address this issue. It is a very straightforward matter. On 30 October last I tabled a question to the Minister for Justice to ask him whether the former Garda house at Taghmon in County Wexford was to be sold and, if so, to whom and if it had not been sold whether he would consider giving the house either by direct grant or by way of cheap sale, to the Taghmon Community Development Committee, who are extremely anxious to use the facility there for community purposes. The Minister for Justice informed me by way of written answer on the day that the house was being sold by the Office of Public Works to the garda who was occupying it. I have been in touch with the community group since then and they have informed me quite clearly that there is no garda in residence in that house and that in fact it has been many years since the house has been occupied by a member of the Garda Síochána. There was a considerable community campaign throughout those years to have a full-time garda in residence in Taghmon. Unfortunately it has not proved possible in recent times to bring about that desirable position.

It is now surprising that the house is to be sold, I understand, to a retiring garda who does not live in the village of Taghmon but who would like to retire there. This is a prime property in the middle of the village. There are numerous social problems in the village of Taghmon that should be addressed. The community development committee there are anxious to have a premises in which to carry out this work.

I must inform the Minister for Justice that there is considerable public anxiety about this sale. The purpose of my raising the issue this evening was to ask the Minister to reconsider the position, not to proceed with the sale as envisaged by the Office of Public Works, to allow this important public facility be put to the use and benefit of the community and the community development organisation which is a very progressive force in the village of Taghmon.

Minister for Justice (Mr. Burke)

Because the Deputy decided to raise this matter on the Adjournment this evening I requested that the Garda authorities be contacted again to confirm the information I had already given in the reply.

I now understand that the garda to whom the house is being sold was assigned the house in February, 1990 and moved into it in July 1990. He moved out after a month or so because of its bad condition. However, having been assigned the house by the Garda Personnel Branch he remains the official tenant of the house and it is being sold to him on that basis.

Under the terms of the scheme for the sale of garda houses, which were agreed with the Garda representative associations, houses selected for sale were offered, in, the first instance, to the gardaí to whom they were assigned. In some cases, as in Taghmon, the garda concerned was not actually living in the house officially assigned to him at the time, in this instance, because of its bad condition, but this was allowed for under the terms of the scheme. Vacant houses, that is to say, houses that were not assigned to a particular member of the force, were to be sold on the open market by tender.

I should explain to Deputy Howlin the background to the decision to sell off a number of houses. Because of the poor condition of many of them it would have cost a substantial amount of money, money which is not available in the present economic circumstances, to restore them to habitable condition. Even then, there would be no guarantee that members of the force could be found to live in them. On the other hand, given the context of the amount of money being realised by the sale of these houses, the Government, were able to maintain a high level of expenditure on the Garda building programme. For example, expenditure on the Garda building programme in 1991 will be over £5 million with new stations being opened at Anglesea Street in Cork, Bandon, Carlow, Balbriggan, Mulrany and Shannon.