Government spends millions on office space

THE
Government has been criticised for spending millions of euros on renting
buildings on the Southside.

And
it has been urged to enact legislation to abolish upward only rent reviews in a
bid to save money for hard pressed taxpayers.

New
figures obtained by Southside People show that the Office of Public Works (OPW)
manages 379 leases for the purpose of providing office space for Government
departments around the country.

The
total cost of the leases in 2010 came to

?¬98.5 million and 129 of them come
with an upward only rent review.

Upward
only rent clauses mean that the Government is tied into contracts in these
premises and is not entitled to benefit from a downward revision of rental
agreements, despite the sharp falls in commercial rent and property prices over
the last number of years.

Of
the 379 leases, the Government rented 81 buildings on the Southside at a cost
of over

?¬65 million last year. Some 39 of the Southside premises attracted an
upward only rent review clause. The figures were released recently after a
parliamentary question posed to Justice Minister, Deputy Alan Shatter (FG).

Sinn
Fein’s Ballyfermot representative, Daithi Doolan, has called on the OPW to try
to exit from as many existing upward rent review contracts with private
landlords as possible in a bid to save money for taxpayers.

?

A
spokesman at the Department of Justice referred to a response from Minister
Shatter on the matter.

? he said.

?

A
spokesman for the OPW said they operated an ongoing programme of
rationalisation of its leases property portfolio through a combination of
expiries, break clauses and negotiated early surrenders.