Kevin Boxer Moran

Excuse me, I did not interfere with Deputy Tóibín. He stood there and portrayed everything we are doing on this side of the House as wrong. Shame on him for portraying that.

Excuse me, Deputy. Everyone in this House had a chance to stand where I am. Every single one did but they all failed. They went to the rung of the ladder, went out on social media, went on radio and television, and talked about government but they failed to go into government. I went in because I believe I can make changes. I believe I can deliver-----

I can deliver. In my Department, we will work tirelessly to make sure we do that. I was the first one to admit-----

I was the first one to apologise to people for mistakes made. However, when people come in here and talk about bike sheds, they should get it right. Bike shelters is what they are. This is a listed building. This is a building that is cherished by people all over the world, including the people of Ireland, and we cannot just dig up, throw in and do what you bloody well like, which is what the Depu…

Excuse me. They talk about the security hut. Let me remind everyone in the House, some of whom sit on the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, that nothing can happen around the Houses without the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission knowing. It in the framing of the House. Nobody asked a question about security. The hut cost €300,000 but what goes on as part of security to protect the people in th…

These are necessary things that had to be put in place. We have to protect the people who work here.

Is the Deputy telling me that we should not protect the people who work here? Doing so is totally wrong. It is unfair that the Deputies would come in criticising every element of what we do when we are all elected by the people and doing our best to serve them. We will continue to do so.

Sorry, it cost €300,000, and the auxiliary works attached to that-----

Sorry, but the security element of that cost the rest. I am sorry to say that, but that has to be done.

I would defend it all day.

I respect the Deputy.

Do not come in here-----

The Deputy should have gone into government. He has all the answers.

He has all the answers.

All the answers. I could list out hundreds of things.

What is the Deputy doing?

What is the Deputy doing? She is shouting across the House the whole time.

I thank the Deputy for his kind words. The OPW has responsibility on behalf of the State for managing and maintaining a substantial and complex estate - comprising approximately 2,500 properties - including office buildings, Garda properties, heritage properties, visitor centres and national monuments. The OPW also has responsibility for the funding and delivery of flood relief projects across the…

When the Deputy states I have introduced guidance, I am quite happy with that given that I am only two weeks in the job. I am quite happy to state that in four to five weeks we will be moving and changing how we do things. I am happy to say we get value for money. I went into government. I could have sat on the Opposition benches. I came into government to make changes. I know what it is to make a…

Sorry?

As stated at the outset, I meant quite clearly that the OPW does very good work. I want to continue with that work and I want to promote the brand and what I believe the OPW stands for. When we talk about some of the articles in the newspaper last week about the overrunning projects, when we go to some of these sites - heritage sites or old buildings-----

----- and take off the roof - it could be a slate, glass or copper roof - the naked eye cannot see what is underneath when it comes to pricing it up. There can be other problems and issues. If I, or my predecessor, had turned around and stopped that project because it was going into an overspend, I would have Deputies in this House asking why there was a delay on this project and what was keeping …

The OPW ensures the quality of the concrete blockwork used in all its building projects complies with the European standard for masonry blockwork. This requires that the manufacturer shall supply a certificate with each delivery of concrete blocks stating the date of manufacture and that the blocks comply with all the requirements of the standard. It includes a declaration of performance and a Eur…

The Deputy asked me about OPW buildings, and I identified not to my knowledge. If the Deputy has knowledge of buildings that are showing signs, he should let me know and we will follow them up. At present, according to what I have in front of me, we do not. However, I assure him that if he comes to me with that, I will take it up.

If a building shows signs, then an engineer is assigned and a safety measure is put in place, but as I said at the outset, to the best of my knowledge we have no buildings in Donegal, and I have nothing in front of me to tell me we have. There is no point in me saying what we are or are not going to do if we do not have buildings with the affected blocks. I ask the Deputy to come back to me.