OPW could have prevented Garda HQ mess 

One deal offered to the OPW in 2013 would have cost it roughly €45m — some €41m less than the €86.6m replacement it is building on this site at Military Rd in Kilmainham. Picture: Moya Nolan

The Office of Public Works missed out on at least three opportunities to prevent the loss of the garda command centre in Dublin to private interests by a failure to act, it has emerged.

The OPW, the State body with responsibility for property management, on at least three occasions declined to action an offer to either extend the rental lease on Garda HQ at Harcourt Square, or to buy the property outright at a discount, between 2010 and 2014, according to documents seen by the Irish Examiner.