Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Most other Deputies and I raised this matter. I asked whether Caranua was paying rent. I checked the accounts with the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General to determine whether I had missed something and was told that no rent was being paid. I asked on the day whether rent was being paid and the CEO said no but that it would be paying rent as it was about to move into the private market or words to that effect. It subsequently transpired that rent had been paid and that there had been an extension of the lease from 2016 to 2017, involving a sum of over €100,000, of which €50,000 had been paid. I find it difficult to believe it was an oversight, but I accept the correction.

The bigger issue is that neither the Department of Education and Skills, the Office of Public Works nor Caranua has explained why Caranua needed to move into expensive premises. There was an extension of the lease and it is now moving. The cost will be €272,000 per year. I will be guided by the Chairman on this, but we expressed an opinion that this was a very serious matter. I have a point on which I want guidance. The Office of Public Works appeared to lease the premises on Frederick Street. I do not know from whom it leased it or the cost involved. The Department of Education and Skills and Caranua were based there, among other organisations, and no rent was paid from 2013 to 2016. If no rent was paid for that period of time, why, when the amount in the fund is decreasing and serious concerns have been expressed about it being reduced, would it enter into an expensive rent agreement? We have asked it not to do so. For four years no rent was paid, although it now appears that it was for three years because the figures were retrospective. Why is the Office of Public Works or the Department of Education and Skills insisting on the payment of rent? I do not know why that is happening. Furthermore, the Minister has to give permission. He has a clear legal responsibility to say "Yes" or "No" to a contract. From all of the convoluted replies we have received, I understand no consent has been given. Has Caranua entered into a contract? It is an abdication of responsibility. I would like to be guided by the Chairman. It is an obscenity that Caranua will have to pay rent of €272,000, including €8,000 or €9,000 for three car parking spaces. These are not things about which it should be concerned. There are many other issues to which I would like to come back in the context of outstanding reports, but for the moment I am limiting myself to this issue. The Comptroller and Auditor General might help me to clarify it.

The Office of Public Works has a serious question to answer. What policy was changed? I understand it is leasing the premises to which Caranua will move and charging rent. I do not know all of the facts, but I am trying to obtain the information.