I welcome the Minister to the House. This matter refers to a parliamentary question and the reply to it in respect of a case I dealt with before. The person concerned is a constituent of mine who has had a dispute with the Office of Public Works. I dealt with the case briefly in the past but that was five or six years ago and I expected it would have been resolved by now. The Minister is fair minded, as I would expect, but I am a little apprehensive about the manner and method used to deal with my constituent in this situation. I was not happy when I examined the file previously and am still not happy.
I was particularly unhappy with the reply I received to Parliamentary Question No. 346 on 26 January. I asked the Minister for Finance, the progress, if any, in respect of a dispute regarding lands at Ballybride Road, Shankill, County Dublin, in view of the fact that this dispute has been ongoing for several years and asked him to make a statement on the matter. He replied that settlement terms had been put to the other party in the dispute but they had not responded.
I then received correspondence from the constituent in question which stated that, further to my letter of the 24th and our subsequent telephone conversation on the lands at Ballybride Road, Shankill, County Dublin, the Office of Public Works had made no settlement terms to him.
I tabled a further parliamentary question and was able to extract the following information.
The dispute relates to a deposit paid to the Commissioner of Public Works in 1994 by the prospective purchaser of the lands in question. The prospective purchaser failed to complete the purchase and his deposit was forfeited in accordance with the terms of the contract which he signed. An offer of settlement was communicated by the Chief State Solicitor on behalf of the Commissioner of Public Works in March 1999 to solicitors acting for the proposed purchaser. The terms of the offer are confidential to the parties.
I am as far ahead as I was to start with. I do not want to have to seek information under the Freedom of Information Act but I will go down that route if necessary. I am a great believer in fair play and am not accusing the Office of Public Works of being unfair but I am a little concerned when a large amorphous body is dealing with an individual. It very often will have the upper hand and will use it unwittingly to the detriment of the rights of the other side. Will the Minister of State check the file to ascertain if he is happy with the position? When I checked it I was not happy about it. I can get all the information I want if I submit an FOI query on it, although it might take 30 to 40 days to get the information. I would do that willingly, but it should not be necessary. As Members of this House, we should be able to resolve a matter as simple as this one.
I am annoyed the reply to my parliamentary question was not accurate. The Minister of State will have to take up that with his Department. The reply should have been accurate and straightforward. A reply to a subsequent parliamentary question elucidates further on the matter. My constituent is not aware of the terms referred to.