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Dáil
‹ Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation

Thornton Hall emergency accommodation

Summary

Deputy O'Rourke complained about a drip feed of information on Thornton Hall being used for emergency accommodation. The Minister said local representatives were informed once a Government decision was made and explained the process would be staged.

What are the plans for Thornton Hall? Last week, we received notification from the community engagement team that it will be used as emergency accommodation and that this accommodation will be brought on stream in the near future. That is all of the information we have. I have spoken to the two Ministers involved. It has been reported that this will take four to six weeks and that it may require planning, depending on the units. There is a lot of other speculation, as the Minister might appreciate. There seems to be a drip feed of information to the media and no feed to public representatives, local communities or the local authority. What is the plan for engagement with public representatives, the local community and local authorities?

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Joe O'Brien Minister of State at the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Green Party

I thank the Deputy for the question. As soon as a Government decision was made last week, the community engagement team informed local TDs and councillors in Dublin Fingal. The site is close to me. I will check to see what was done there. We are operating on the basis that we give representatives all of the information when we have it. The reality of the situation is that it is a staged process. There will be stages where we do not have information. The community engagement team will set dates. I understand there are proposals to meet local representatives over the next week. The team will share the information it has at that stage. The downside of us being upfront and early with information is that we do not have all of the information upfront. My understanding is that an assessment is being carried out in respect of the site in order to see what will be viable. As soon as we have the information to share, we will do that.

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