Public Expenditure Policy
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-28
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Richard Boyd Barrett (PBP), Dún Laoghaire

This is the game of pass the parcel that led to The Complex being closed down. If one goes to the Department, it says that it would love to leave The Complex open but it cannot buy properties, which is something I did not know, so what the Minister just said is complete nonsense. The Department is not allowed to buy properties. Dublin City Council said basically it did not have the money for it. The Minister is the Minister for infrastructure. We need housing, social and affordable housing in particular, and we need arts and cultural spaces, which are being closed down left, right and centre in the city centre. That building has not been sold. Apparently, the sale has not gone through so it is not over yet. That space could be saved and we could get a site for social and affordable housing for the small figure of €6 million. I suggest that the Minister, as Minister with responsibility for infrastructure, cracks the whip and says that it is madness to let this thing go and that we should save that site and save The Complex for all the artists and the local community and to deliver social and affordable housing on the site.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-28