Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Okay. We will note the listing of financial statements. Is that agreed? Agreed. As usual, the listing of accounts and financial statements will be published as part of the minutes.

We will move on to correspondence. As previously agreed, items that were not flagged for discussion for this meeting will continue to be dealt with in accordance with the proposed actions that have been circulated. Decisions taken by the committee on correspondence are recorded in the minutes of the committee’s meetings and published on the committee’s web page. The first category is correspondence from Accounting Officers and Ministers and follow-up to committee meetings.

No. 1487B is correspondence from Mr. Maurice Buckley, the cathaoirleach of the Office of Public Works, OPW, dated 30 September 2022. It is a quarterly update requested by the committee regarding Miesian Plaza, Baggot Street, Dublin 2. In 2017, the OPW entered into a 25-year lease at Miesian Plaza, which houses the Department of Health and staff of some other Departments. The OPW’s mismeasurement of the floor space for the building gave rise to a forecasted overpayment of about €10 million during the lifetime of the lease. In October 2018, the OPW stated that it was negotiating with the owner of the premises in an attempt to have the floor space measurements upon which the lease is based recalibrated. The issue was highlighted by the Comptroller and Auditor General in the 2017 report on the accounts of the public services and examined by the previous Committee of Public Accounts in October 2018. This committee also reported on the matter in May 2021.

This correspondence details an agreement in principle between the landlord and the OPW that will go some way towards limiting taxpayers’ exposure to the loss of about €10 million. The chairman states, "it has been agreed between the parties to extend the lease on Miesian Plaza by a period of 9 months at a nominal rent of €10 per annum". The lease was entered into at a contracted rate of €10 million per annum, subject to review every five years. The agreement would potentially claw back about €7.5 million of the expected overpayment. While that is welcome, it appears that the taxpayer will still be out of pocket by €2 million or thereabouts. It would be interesting to know if the rent review took place before the agreement and, if so, what the current rate is. It is proposed to note and publish this item of correspondence. Is that agreed? As agreed last week, we intend to schedule a meeting with the OPW before the end of the year. Deputy Catherine Murphy flagged this item for discussion.