€43m decentralisation sites left lying idle

The Office of Public Works has confirmed that 12 sites bought for over €43m for the Government’s scrapped decentralisation plan are lying idle.

Among them is a 2.1-acre site in Drogheda for which the State paid €12.4m. The others were bought with taxpayers’ money for prices ranging from €390,000 for a six-acre site in Knock, to €8.25m for a 5.3-acre site in Mullingar.

The OPW has only shed light on how one of the 12 locations can be utilised into the future.

The 9.1-acre Portlaoise site, which was purchased for €1,027,636, is “under consideration for use in the consolidation of accommodation for 480 staff”. It is not clear what will happen to the other holdings.

The OPW told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee the sites would have been bought for market value during the property boom.

They were all bought before the current Government announced it was abandoning decentralisation.

However, the sites have not been valued since they were bought, which would suggest nobody is sure what they are currently worth.

The sites will not be put up for sale immediately, and instead will be assessed by the OPW to see if they can be put to alternative use.

Fine Gael’s Simon Harris said he was outraged that “Fianna Fáil’s decentralisation gimmick” had been such a shocking waste of taxpayers’ money.

“The Fianna Fáil-led government announced in 2003 that 10,922 public servants would be moved by the end of 2006.

“We all know that this did not happen, but today we discovered how disastrous the project actually was.”

He said 70% of the promised decentralisation jobs were never moved. Of the 58 locations across the country, 21 never materialised.

“Of the remaining locations, movement of staff was only partly completed. Mullingar, for example, was promised 297 posts, but only seven moved. In Naas, 343 posts were promised, but only 12 moved. Most shocking of all, in Drogheda — the constituency of then communications minister, Dermot Ahern — 702 posts were promised, but no one was ever moved.

“This is an absolute disgrace. Countless staff hours by the OPW were wasted on this project, as well as €45m in funding, and there are now 12 sites standing empty across the country.”

Separately, this was the last Public Accounts Committee meeting attended by Comptroller and Auditor General John Buckley, who retires next Monday ahead of the cut-off point after which public service pensions will be reduced.

The chairman of the committee, Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness, paid tribute to Mr Buckley.