§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on what date and by what legal authority RUC barracks were constructed on property of the Gaelic Athletic Association and grounds of Crossmaglen Rangers; what preparations have been made to vacate these barracks; what functions currently conducted at or from these barracks will be discontinued and what functions will be carried out from which other sites; what preparations for the transfer of functions are being made at other sites; what date has been set as the target for completion of these moves; what compensation or other payments have been made to the owners of this land; and what plans have been made to demolish the barracks and return the site to its previous use. [82503]
§ Mr. IngramThe then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Merlyn Rees, signed a Requisition Order on 25 June 1974 to take possession of land belonging to Crossmaglen Rangers GAA Club under powers conferred by the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973 323W for the purpose of extending the then existing joint RUC and Army Base. The Requisition Order conveys the right to build or do any other necessary works on the land. The existing Base is sited mainly on land owned by the Police Authority for Northern Ireland.
A portion of this requisitioned land which was outside the perimeter wall of the extended Base was handed back to the GAA Club in April 1995.
A further small strip of land belonging to the Club was requisitioned in May 1991 to create a 3 metre stand-off zone between the rear perimeter wall of the Base and the Club's newly built Social Club. This area was de-requisitioned in April 1995.
On return of the area still held under requisition none of the functions currently carried out at or from these barracks will be discontinued or transferred to other sites. They will be carried out from the reduced base.
Work to clear the site has commenced and will be completed as soon as possible. On completion of the restoration work, the land will be handed back to the GAA Club.
To date, the GAA Club has received £150,000 in compensation and £30,657.53 towards the costs of professional advisers' fees.
Thematic panels Panel chair Ageing population Jim Stretton, Chief Executive, Standard Life Crime Prevention Colin, Sharman, Chairman, KPMG International Manufacturing 2020 Nicholas Scheele, Senior Vice President, Ford, Europe Sectoral panels Built Environment & Transport Keith Clarke, Chief Executive, Kvaerner Construction Chemicals Dr. Joe Blaker, President, Chemical Industries Association Defence, Aerospace & Systems Sir Donald Spiers, Chairman Meggitt plc. Financial Services Tim Jones, Managing Director, Retail Banking Services NatWest Food Chain & Crops for Industry Deidre Hutton, Chair, Scottish Consumer Council Healthcare Sir Michael Peckham, Director, School of Public Policy, University College London Information, Communications & Media Joyce Taylor, Managing Director, Discovery Communications Europe Materials Professor John Wood, University of Nottingham Retail & Consumer Services Sir John Banham, West Country Management Construction (associate programme) Tim, Broyd, Director, WS Atkins Marine (form of association to be decided) Tim Jones, Chief Executive, Lloyds Register The Chair of the Energy and Natural Environment panel will be appointed shortly.
Work programmes for the panels and panel membership are due to be published in the next few weeks.