Defence Forces Properties.

Thursday, 19 November 2009

Questions (52, 53)

Ruairí Quinn

Question:

47 Deputy Ruairí Quinn asked the Minister for Defence if he plans to bring forward a detailed feasibility study in regard to the disposal of Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin and the re-location of personnel stationed there to other sites within the Defence Forces portfolio; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42184/09]

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Written answers

Minister for Defence (Deputy Willie O’Dea)

The Defence property portfolio is kept under ongoing review by my Department to ensure the most effective use of military resources having regard to the roles assigned by Government to the Defence Forces. This includes ongoing review of the organisation, structure and formation of the forces and the consequential requirement for military barracks and other properties. The funding realised from the disposal of surplus property together with pay savings has provided resources for the modernisation of the Defence Forces and has been invested in new infrastructure, equipment and training area development. Any further properties that are considered surplus to military requirements will continue to be disposed of and the funding invested to meet the current and future equipment and infrastructure needs of the Defence Forces.

The question concerning the future of Cathal Brugha Barracks, along with the issue of any further consolidation across the Defence Forces as a whole, will be among the issues to be considered in the context of the Estimates process having regard to the report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes. Cathal Brugha Barracks is a very significant military installation with a wide range of facilities, accommodation and storage depots and would be costly to replace. This will need to be factored into our consideration, particularly in the current financial situation. Consideration will also need to be given to the operational requirements of the Defence Forces and where personnel would be relocated.

The recommendations in the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes and the decisions on all of the issues arising will be a matter for the Government in the context of the Estimates and budgetary process. It would not be appropriate for me to comment further at this stage pending the outcome of these deliberative processes.

Willie Penrose

Question:

48 Deputy Willie Penrose asked the Minister for Defence if he will give details of the defence property portfolio; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42186/09]

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Minister for Defence (Deputy Willie O’Dea)

The Defence property portfolio consists of a diverse range of facilities from conventional military barracks to forts, camps, dwelling houses and training lands. The principal assets are 23 permanently occupied barracks. The Department also owns 26 premises that are used by the Reserve Defence Forces. A further 51 properties are rented for use by the Reserve. The property portfolio also includes a total of 150 married quarters that are mainly located within the Curragh Camp. The policy is that these should be phased out in a managed and orderly way. The land included in the property portfolio amounts to approximately 20,000 acres, predominantly located at the Curragh, the Glen of Imaal and Kilworth Camp, and is used for military training. Details of all properties owned or rented by the Department are contained in the attached tabular statement.

The modernisation process in Defence identified that the dispersal of personnel over an extended number of locations is a major impediment to essential collective training and imposes increased and unnecessary overheads on the Defence Forces in terms of barrack management, administration, maintenance and security. The consolidation of the Defence Forces formations into a smaller number of locations is a key objective of the White Paper on Defence. The Department and the Defence Forces continually review Defence Forces requirements in relation to barracks, infrastructure and other military installations. A total of ten barracks have been closed over the past 10 years.

A comprehensive VFM review of military training lands and firing ranges is due to be concluded shortly. I understand that the consultants report will identify opportunities for further consolidation and rationalisation of training land requirements, while pointing to additional requirements in some areas. The report of the consultants will inform the future development of defence training lands and range infrastructure. As is the case in other areas of the defence portfolio, those lands that are surplus to requirements will be disposed of for the benefit of the Defence Forces.

Department of Defence — Property Portfolio

Permanently Occupied Posts
	County	Location	Name	Acreage	Brigade
1	Cavan	Cavan Town	Dun Ui Neill	16.25	Western
2	Cork	Cork City	Collins	59.80	Southern
3	Cork	Haulbowline	Naval Base	84.00	Southern
4	Donegal	Ballyshannon	Finner Camp	840.00	Western
5	Dublin	Arbour Hill	St Bricins	3.00	Eastern
6	Dublin	Baldonnel	Casement Aerodrome	685.00	Eastern
7	Dublin	Blackhorse Ave	McKee Barracks	45.00	Eastern
8	Dublin	Rathmines	Cathal Brugha	46.00	Eastern
9	Galway	Renmore	Dun Ui Mhaoiliosa	74.00	Western
10	Kilkenny	Kilkenny City	Stephen’s Barracks	14.00	Southern
11	Kildare	Curragh	Ceannt Barracks		Curragh
12	Kildare	Curragh	Clarke Barracks		Curragh
13	Kildare	Curragh	Connolly Barracks		Curragh
14	Kildare	Curragh	McDermott Barracks		Curragh
15	Kildare	Curragh	McDonagh Barracks		Curragh
16	Kildare	Curragh	Pearse Barracks		Curragh
17	Kildare	Curragh	Plunkett Barracks		Curragh
18	Limerick	Limerick City	Sarsfield Barracks	14.80	Southern
19	Louth	Dundalk	Aiken Barracks	18.00	Eastern
20	Meath	Gormanston	Gormanston Camp	261.00	Eastern
21	Tipperary	Clonmel	Kickham Barracks	11.00	Southern
22	Westmeath	Athlone	Custume Barracks	13.00	Western
23	Westmeath	Mullingar	Columb Barracks	23.75	Western

Reserve Defence Force Premises — Owned

	County	Location	Acreage	Brigade
1	Carlow	Mhuine Beag	0.44	Southern
2	Cork	Fermoy	13.50	Southern
3		Mallow	0.07	Southern
4		Skibbereen	0.50	Southern
5		Youghal	0.11	Southern
6	Donegal	Milford	0.50	Western
		Mullins Donegal Town		Western
7	Galway	Ballinasloe	0.50	Western
8		Clifden	0.04	Western
9		Gort	0.20	Western
10		Loughrea	0.23	Western
11	Kerry	Killorglin	0.25	Southern
12		Listowel	0.22	Southern
13	Laois	Portlaoise	0.07	Southern
14	Leitrim	Manorhamilton	0.25	Western
15	Longford	Longford Town		Western
16	Louth	Drogheda	0.40	Eastern
17	Mayo	Westport	0.5	Western
18	Meath	Kells	0.25	Eastern
19		Navan	0.50	Eastern
20	Roscommon	Roscommon town	0.80	Western
21	Tipperary	Thurles	0.19	Southern
22	Tipperary	Templemore McCann Barracks (part)	0.39	Southern
23	Waterford	Dungarvan	0.10	Southern
24	Waterford City	Military Barracks	0.8	Southern
25	Wexford Town	Military Barracks	1.00	Southern
26	Wicklow	Murrough	0.23	Eastern

Reserve Defence Forces — Rented Property

	County	Name	Location	F/T or P/T	Brigade
1	Carlow	Community Hall	Borris	P/T	Eastern
2		St. John’s community Centre	Hacketstown	P/T	Eastern
3		St. Patrick’s GAA	Tullow	P/T	Eastern
4	Clare	Community Centre	Doonaha	P/T	Southern
5		Community Centre	Milltown Malbay	P/T	Southern
6	Cork	Town Hall	Bandon	P/T	Southern
7		Parochial Hall	Bantry	P/T	Southern
8		Beara Sports Hall	Castletownbere	P/T	Southern
9		Community Hall	Charleville	P/T	Southern
10		Industrial Hall	Clonakilty	P/T
11		St. Patrick’s Hall	Dunmanway	P/T	Southern
12		Parish Hall	Kilworth	P/T	Southern
13		Millstreet GAA	Millstreet	P/T	Southern
14	Donegal	St. Finian’s Hall, Station Rd	Falcarragh	P/T	Western
15		Moville Road	Carndonagh	F/T	Western
16		Community Hall, Massinass	Creeslough	P/T	Western
17	Galway	Community Centre	Glenamaddy	P/T	Western
18		Headford College	Headford	P/T	Western
19		Parochial House	Carraroe	P/T	Western
20		Community Centre	Oughterard	P/T	Western
21	Kilkenny		Dunamaggin	P/T	Southern
22	Leitrim	Mayflower Ballroom	Glenfarne	P/T	Western
23		Community Hall	Carrawallen	P/T
24			Drumsna	F/T
25	Limerick	Community Hall	Abbeyfeale	P/T	Southern
26		Community Centre	Boher	P/T	Southern
27		Town Hall	Hospital	P/T	Southern
28		Community Centre	Pallaskenry	P/T	Southern
29		Community Centre	Rathkeale	P/T	Southern
30		Community Centre	Pallas Green	P/T	Southern
31		Parochial Hall	Kilmallock	P/T	Southern
32	Mayo	Community Centre	Roundfort Hollymount	P/T	Western
33		Town Hall	Claremorris	P/T	Western
34		Community Centre	Swinford	P/T
35		Bohernasup	Ballina	P/T	Western
36	Meath	Community Centre	Oldcastle	P/T	Eastern
37		Scoil Mhuire	Trim	P/T	Eastern
38	Monaghan	7 Main street	Carrickmacross	F/T	Eastern
39		Monaghan GAA	Monaghan Town	P/T
40	Offaly	St. Mary’s Hall	Ferbane	P/T	Eastern
41		Kilcruttin Business Park	Tullamore	F/T	Eastern
42	Sligo	Unit 12 B, Business Park	Cleveragh	F/T	Western
43		Community Centre	Tobercurry	P/T	Western
44	Tipperary	St. Patrick’s Hall	Ballymacarbry	P/T	Southern
45	Waterford	Community Hall	Villierstown	P/T	Southern
46	Wexford	St. Aidan’s Hall	Bunclody	P/T	Eastern
47		Community Hall	Cortnacuddy	P/T	Eastern
48		Community Hall	Cushinstown	P/T	Eastern
49		Scout Hall	Gorey	P/T	Eastern
50	Wicklow	Parochial Hall	Tinahely	P/T	Eastern
51		Community College	Arklow	P/T	Eastern

Training Facilities — Owned

	County	Location	Name	Acreage	Brigade
1	Clare	Lahinch	Lahinch Camp	5.19	Southern
2	Cork	Bere Island	Bere Island	176.50	Southern
3		Kilworth	Kilworth	3352	Southern
4		Whitegate	Fort Davis	74.00	Southern
	Kildare	Curragh	Curragh lands	4,780.00	Curragh
5	Kerry	Tralee	Ballymullen	15.00	Southern
6	Wicklow	Glen of Imaal	Coolmooney Camp	241.00	Curragh
7		Glen of Imaal	Artillery Range	6617	Curragh
8		Kilbride	Camp and Range	1,574.00	Eastern

Firing Ranges — Owned

	County	Location	Name	Acreage	Brigade
1	Galway	Oranmore		534.0	Western
2	Louth	Dundalk	Red Barns	13.5	Eastern
3	Roscommon	Carna		283.0	Western
4		Cushla		139.0	Western
5	Tipperary	Kilcoran		13.5	Southern
6		Templemore	Barnane	10.0	Southern
7	Wicklow	Bray	Kilpeddar	98.0	Eastern

Other Property — Owned

	County	Location	Name	Acreage	Brigade
1	Cork	Beal na mBlath	Collins Memorial Plot	0.01	Southern
2		Whitegate	Curtain’s Well	0.25	Southern
3	Dublin	Collins Barracks	Esplanade	0.5.0	Eastern
4		Islandbridge	Army Boat Club	1.00	Eastern
5	Kildare	Blackrath	Leased Out	35.50	Curragh
7	Roscommon	Boyle	Military Barracks	0.50	Western
8	Westmeath	Athlone	Garynafeala Lands	14.75	Western
9	Wicklow	Seskin	Range Warden’s Post	1.00	Curragh

Question No. 49 answered with Question No. 24.