Written answers
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
Departmental Expenditure
8:00 pm
Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Question 201: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the total allocated budget for his Department in 2011; and the actual outturns in each of his Department subheads at the end of 2011. [2139/12]
Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The following table details the budget and provisional outturn figures for my Department in 2011:
| Subhead | Budget 2011 €'000 | Provisional Outturn 2011 €'000 |
| Salaries, Wages and Allowances | 21,573 | 19,548 |
| Travel and Subsistence | 262 | 119 |
| Incidental Expenses | 152 | 216 |
| Postal and Telecommunications Services | 75 | 71 |
| Office Machinery and Other Office Supplies | 555 | 611 |
| Office Premises Expenses | 0 | 7 |
| Consultancy Services | 7 | 5 |
| Economic and Social Research Institute (Grant-in-Aid) | 2,700 | 2,700 |
| Structural Funds for Technical Assistance and Other Costs | 905 | 789 |
| Technical Assistance Costs of Regional Assemblies | 740 | 657 |
| Peace Programme/Northern Ireland INTERREG | 4,040 | 3,573 |
| Special EU Programmes Body | 1,247 | 1,168 |
| Ireland/Wales and Transnational Interreg | 385 | 385 |
| Procurement Management Reform | 140 | 0 |
| Consultancy Services | 175 | 55 |
| Institute of Public Administration (Grant-in-Aid) | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| Gaeleagras na Seirbhise Poibli | 120 | 40 |
| Civil Service Arbitration and Appeals Procedures | 65 | 35 |
| Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Service | 1 | 0 |
| Public Service Benchmarking Body | 1 | 0 |
| Committee for Performance Awards | 1 | 0 |
| Centre for Management and Organisation Development | 1,530 | 1,105 |
| Change Management Fund * | 2,780 | 352 |
| Civil Service Childcare Initiative | 25 | 8 |
| Referendum Commission 2011* | 1 | 669 |
| Gross Total | 40,480 | 35,113 |
| Appropriations-In-Aid | 5,639 | 5,046 |
| Net Total | 34,841 | 30,067 |
*Supplementary Estimate of €1,000 September 2011 (€1.5m transferred from Change Management Fund to cover expenditure on this subhead).
Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 202: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if it is correct that the Office of Public Works is paying €500,000 rent for empty office space. [2189/12]
Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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The Office of Public Works (OPW) is in process of significantly reducing the annual cost of leased office accommodation. In the last two years, OPW has surrendered approximately seventy leases and has reduced the annual rent bill by €14m. Such a rationalisation process will inevitably create short term surpluses of space. The OPW currently leases 337 office buildings and, at present, three of these are unallocated.
The three buildings are set out in the following table:
| Building | Rent Per Annum | Status |
| Westward Town Centre, Sligo, Co Sligo | €31,000.00 | OPW) will be surrendering this lease in 2012. |
| Phoenix House, Conyngham Road, Dublin 8 | €365,000.00 | OPW will be allocating space in Phoenix House in early 2012. |
| Irish Life Centre, Block 1, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1 (5th floor) | €215,000.00 | OPW) will be surrendering this lease in 2012. |
As Westward Town Centre and Irish Life Centre Block 1 are surplus to requirements, it was not considered appropriate to incur the cost of refurbishment and moving other clients into these spaces. It should be noted that the cost of rent involved in these 3 buildings represents, of the order of, .006% of the rent associated with office buildings leased by OPW.
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