Dept 'has not pursued' report on FÁS site purchase

The Department of Finance said it has not yet pursued findings of a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General which found that FÁS paid more than double the recommended price for a site for a new headquarters in Co Offaly.

The land in Birr was among 12 sites costing almost €44m bought across the country for the decentralisation programme - which is now not going ahead.

A recent report found that FÁS bought a 5.59 acre site outside Birr in December 2004.

The agency's own property consultants recommended a price of €700,000 in August of that year - but the agency paid €1.5m for the site, which has since lain idle.

Under questioning from the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee Chairman Bernard Allen today, Principal Officer at the Department of Finance Dermot Keane admitted that he had not pursued the findings of the C&AG report.