Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 293: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the costs incurred to date for decentralisation, broken down by her Department and the agencies under the aegis of her Department. [18115/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Office of Public Works (OPW) has primary responsibility for the procurement of suitable accommodation for both the advance and permanent re-location of decentralising Departments, including my Department's staff to Carlow.

Officials of my Department, in consultation with the Department of Finance and the OPW, as well as decentralising staff and Business Units, opened an advance office in Carlow on July 30th 2007. It is my understanding from the OPW that the yearly rental costs for this office is in the region of €369,000 and the fit-out costs were approximately €2,068,000.

With regard to the property costs for the Department's permanent move to Carlow, the OPW completed the purchase of a site in Carlow town centre for the construction of my Department's permanent office. I understand from the OPW that the site acquisition costs were €1,440,000. My colleague, Minister of State Noel Ahern TD, announced on 13th December 2007 that the OPW has invited The Macquarie Partnership as the consortium to become the "Successful Tenderer" in respect of this decentralisation project. This forms part of a major PPP project, which also involves the provision of office accommodation for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in Portlaoise and the Department of Education and Science in Mullingar. The OPW is responsible for costs in relation to this entire project.

With regard to non-property decentralisation costs incurred to date, the most recent figure for such costs for my Department, as submitted to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service, via the Department of Finance, relates to the period January 2004 to December 2007. These amount to €184,647, broken down as follows — (Travel and Subsistence €11,298, Incidental €1,247, Postal & Telecom €306, Office Machinery €129,854, Office Premises €15,322 and Consultancy €26,620).

With regard to agency decentralisation costs, the most recent expenditure return issued to the Department of Finance, for submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service, relates to the period January 2004 to December 2007. The following tabular statement outlines the non-capital expenditure and capital expenditure incurred by Enterprise Ireland, FÁS, Health & Safety Authority & NSAI for that period.