State hopes to get €15m for property

THE Government hopes to make up to €15 million from the first public property to go on the market in a sell-off of State assets.

After selling off a large number of disused State properties, the Government will then turn its attention to the under-utilised assets of county and city councils and health boards.

Junior Finance Minister Tom Parlon said yesterday the ongoing audit of the use of State assets will ultimately branch out beyond property owned by central government. “I would like to see local authorities, health boards and semi-States being incorporated into it. We have several State bodies that have substantial lands, that might also have a need for capital.”

The minister also pledged to give local authorities a chance to get hold of State property becoming available for the building of social housing.

“It will depend on the site and obviously we will take that on board. We are actually very conscious of our obligations,” the minister said.

Mr Parlon said the money raised from the first site will be put into providing office facilities for psychological services for schoolchildren, renovating and building garda stations and buying out leases. The sale of the site in Dublin city centre is the first in an ongoing programme to transform the State property portfolio including sell-offs of sites, public private partnerships, joint ventures and land swap deals across the country. The Office of Public Works has a property portfolio worth more than €2.5 billion, including disused buildings such as old garda stations, as well as sites and facilities that are no longer needed.

The OPW is currently undertaking an audit of all 2,000 buildings owned or leased by the Government with a view to seeing how many can be sold off or better utilised.

The sale of the OPW’s maintenance headquarters on a one-acre site in a prime residential zoned area off Baggot Street in the heart off Dublin is expected to raise up to €15 million.

Mr Parlon said the sale of the building was a very practical move and the proceeds will be invested in key areas such as:

Fit-out works for regional office space for the National Educational Psychology Service.

Purchase of leaseholds of State offices to reduce the rent roll.

Purchase of sites for new garda stations and renovation of existing stations.