Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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253. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the OPW made attempts to purchase Garda buildings at Harcourt Square in 2013; the rent paid for those buildings since occupation in tabular form; and if the buildings will be vacated on time. [12140/21]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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The Harcourt Square complex was part of a bundle of properties being sold by NAMA in 2013 under Project Aspen. The Commissioners of Public Works engaged with NAMA at that time to explore the possibility of the Commissioners acquiring Harcourt Square. However, this did not proceed as it was not possible for NAMA to separate Harcourt Square from Project Aspen and deal with it in isolation.

The Commissioners first leased the buildings in Harcourt Square in the early 1980s. The following table shows rental expenditure for each year since 2006 when the Commissioners’ current accounting system was introduced. To confirm rental payments prior to 2006 would entail manual searches of hard copy files which cannot be accessed at the moment due to COVID restrictions.