Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

The State is going to rent a building that will cost €260 million over the next 25 years, which is the equivalent of about €15,000 per square metre. The Central Bank estimated what prime city centre retail space cost to buy, and it is about half that cost annually. We could actually buy that building for significantly less than the cost of renting it over the next 25 years. it is not just me saying this or what the Central Bank estimates. The OPW did a spending review and said that purchasing office space cost between 29% and 38% less. In the Minister of State's view, why has the State entered into a contract worth approximately €250 million and we will not own the building at the end of that time, when we could have bought a building of this size in Dublin city centre for substantially less?