State paying €400k to rent empty offices after poverty agency shut down
The Government was once again accused of having political rather than financial motivations for closing down the state agency which tackled poverty and promoted social inclusion for more than 23 years.
The Labour Party said Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin must explain why she did not disclose to the Dáil that her department would continue to pay rent on the building when she introduced legislation to abolish the agency.
A decision to close the CPA was made in September 2008 as part of the Government’s cost-cutting measures. Its director at the time, Kevin O’Kelly, claimed the decision was made because there was “political resentment” over the agency’s comments on budget decisions and government policies.
These suspicions have been confirmed, according to the Labour Party, after it emerged that the Department of Social and Family Affairs has paid €171,000 in rent for the empty offices since the closure of the CPA.
The department is unable to break the lease on the Bridgewater Centre in Islandbridge, Dublin, until March 31, 2011, amounting to a payment of €400,000.
Labour’s spokeswoman on social and family affairs, Róisín Shortall, said: “Given that most of the staff who worked for the agency were transferred into the Department of Social and Family Affairs, there is clearly very little cost-saving on staffing. To make matters worse, we find that taxpayers are being lumbered with a €400,000 bill to pay for empty offices up to March 2011.”
She said the agency “offered an important, independent critique of the record of successive governments” but the Government “simply took its revenge by silencing a valuable, independent voice for the poor”.
Ms Shortall said: “At a time of record unemployment and cuts in social welfare rates, there was no case for abolishing the agency. Now we find that there are little or no financial savings from the decision.”
The department has not sublet the premises, which currently has no use. But a spokesman said it “will use it for its own departmental purposes” until the lease is broken in March 2011.
