Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 115: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the costs incurred to date in 2009 by her Department arising from the Governments decentralisation proposals; the extent of any further or likely costs in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44990/09]

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 office accommodation for decentralising Business Units of my Department.

In consultation with the Department of Finance and the OPW, my Department opened an advance office in Carlow on 30 July 2007 for the staff of the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) and the Companies Registration Office (CRO). It is my understanding from the OPW that the yearly rental cost for this temporary office is in the region of €369,000 and that the fit-out costs were approximately €2,068,000.

With regard to the property costs for a permanent building in Carlow, the OPW acquired a site, at a cost of €1,440,000, in Carlow town centre for the construction of a permanent office there. The former Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Noel Ahern TD, announced on 13 December 2007 that the OPW had invited the Macquarie Partnership as the consortium to become the 'successful tenderer' in respect of this project. This forms part of a major PPP project, which also involves the provision of office accommodation in Portlaoise for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and in Mullingar for the Department of Education and Science. 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 September 2009. These amount to €461,802.