Empty building lease costs IDA €9.4m

The IDA has been forced to pay €9.4m to buy out a lease on an empty building that had been costing the State €1m a year. The Public Accounts Committee heard that the agency was locked into a lease which cost €1m a year despite the fact it was not being used.

The comptroller and auditor general said the IDA, which had leased the unused building in Dublin’s Ballsbridge, was only one of a number of public bodies that are locked into such long-term rent agreements.

Seamus McCarthy said: “It’s something that we have raised in relation to a number of organisations particularly where there have been amalgamations. I think some organisations have got caught with longer leases and they have this difficulty.”

Mr McCarthy said it had been almost impossible to sublet the IDA building.

“The difficulty with Carrisbrook House is that it was regarded that there was a security concern,” he said.

“This Israeli embassy was a sub-tenant of Carrisbrook House and I think it was difficult to market the property because of security risks.”

Independent TD Catherine Connolly also raised €108,000 in rent paid by Co Galway VEC for a premises that has been empty since 2009.