Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The challenge here is that the search for a site has been going on since the early 2000s. The site referred to by the Deputy was not for sale and it is actually not up for sale now. I appreciate that it might come up for sale at some point in the future. It is not up for sale now and we do have a site that has actually been acquired. It is a portion of the site and the decision was taken by Kerry County Council. It was voted on by the members. What they do with the rest of the site is obviously a matter for the local authority. Whatever decision is taken is up to it. We have a site and we now have the ability to get on with building and developing a new courthouse. We will develop those plans so that when it gets to the point where we can look at the ceilings again for 2027 and beyond for the NDP, we will have a plan and we have the site bought. Otherwise we would be waiting for a potential site to come up for sale that might not come up for sale. When we do not know exactly what the plans are, and having waited since 2000, to pause something we know we can progress now for something that might not come up I just do not see as the way forward and I do not see that as the ideal solution here.

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