OPW’s empty buildings - It’s time to get the trowel out

The culture that defines any organisation is set by those at the very top of the managerial pyramid. If the boss couldn’t give a fiddler’s then it is pretty unlikely that staff will have any commitment to a culture of customer care either.

Public bodies can have equally influential roles in society. They can set standards, uphold best practice, and create a high level of expectation around projects or services. This is seen at its sharpest in our health service where committed staff transcend difficulty after difficulty to provide reassuring support in the great majority of cases despite often challenging, sometimes overwhelming circumstances.

Some public organisations have at best a mixed record in this area and the Office of Public Works is one of those. It can deliver splendid projects but it can be guilty of turning a deaf ear to valid public concerns too. Questionable flood prevention proposals in Cork City are an example of this.

Today’s report that the OPW controls 96 vacant properties, 45 of which are former Garda stations, opens the organisation to further criticism. Not all of these buildings might be suitable for redevelopment as affordable homes but some may be so it seems fair to ask why they have not been so utilised. The former Garda station on Cork’s MacCurtain St has been abandoned for decades and epitomises a lack of urgency that, in the midst of a housing crisis, is unacceptable.

Get the trowel out, as it were.