Over €87m to be spent leasing buildings for State agencies

Over €86.7m will be spent by the Office of Public Works (OPW) on leasing buildings which house government departments and other State agencies this year.

However, new figures published by the OPW show that expenditure on such rent has been falling sharply since the start of the economic downturn in 2008.

The most expensive lease is a building at 29-31 Adelaide Rd which houses the Department of Communications, Energy, and Natural Resources. It has an annual rent of almost €3m.

The modern office block commands a rent of €2.97m, which works out as an annual rate of €542 per sq m.

It is considerably more expensive than the second-dearest lease — one of three office blocks which houses An Garda Síochána at Harcourt Square — which costs €1,832,500 to rent per annum.

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The two other blocks also command some of the highest rents for State buildings. They bring the combined cost for leasing one of the largest Garda stations in the country, which incorporates the headquarters of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, to almost €5.55m per annum.

The OPW figures, which were issued in response to queries from the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee, reveal that a total of 25 buildings leased by the State command annual rents in excess of €1m.

All but one – a building leased for the Revenue Commissioners at Fairgreen in Galway – are located in Dublin.

The most expensive State-leased property in Cork are the new Intreo offices at Abbeycourt House on George’s Quay which has been leased by the Department of Social Protection at an annual rent of €380,000 — a rate of almost €127 per square metre.

The headquarters of the Health Information and Quality Authority at Mahon in Cork has an annual rent of €370,420 — a rate of just over €219 per square metre.

A breakdown of leases currently held by the OPW on 390 buildings across the State show they cost €86.7m at current rates.

During a recent appearance before the Public Accounts Committee, OPW chairwoman Clare McGrath said expenditure on rent on behalf of all government departments was now a much reduced figure compared to 2008, when leases cost €131m. The figure was €107m in 2012.

Ms McGrath said that such reductions in both the annual rental bill and the State’s “accommodation footprint” were being achieved through a targeted lease rationalisation programme and a dynamic approach to property management.

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