asked the Minister for Defence the position regarding extra accommodation needed for married men in the Curragh Camp.

Tenders for the building of 50 additional houses for married serving personnel at the Curragh Training Camp will be invited by the National Building Agency before the end of next month.

Would the Minister care to comment on the delay in building these houses, which were promised two years ago?

Any delay there was, which may have brought the building of the houses from one year into another, was due to the fact that the first houses had no fireplaces and were entirely dependent on gas for central heating and cooking. As a result of the oil and gas troubles a decision was made to change the design in order to provide fireplaces. The present position is that we will be inviting tenders before the end of the months and the houses will then be built quickly.

Does the Minister consider that the delay of one year to design a house with a fireplace is a bit long, that it should not have taken more than a few months?

I am as disappointed as the Deputy with the progress on that scheme but there is very little I can do because the plans have not come up.