Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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946. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the estimated amount spent by her Department on the procurement, purchase and rent of new office space; and the amount spent on the procurement, purchase and rent of office equipment in each of the past ten years and to date in 2021. [51110/21]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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947. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of offices currently being rented or in ownership of her Department which are currently not in use by the Department. [51127/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 946 and 947 together.

My Department currently only occupies office space at two locations - Trinity Point, Dublin 2, and Government Buildings, Ballina, Co. Mayo.  The offices occupied in Ballina are in the ownership of the Office of Public Works (OPW), while the lease arrangements in relation to Trinity Point are managed on our behalf by the OPW. 

No other rental or purchase arrangements have been entered into for office space since my Department's establishment in 2017.

In terms of office equipment, I note the Deputy's clarification that, for the purposes of his question, this encompasses IT equipment (eg printers, computers, TVs, laptops, etc) and office furniture (eg chairs, desks, drawers, cabinets, presses, filing cabinets, etc).  In that regard, following a review of records, my Department has identified the following relevant expenditure:

It should be noted that my Department only took over expenditure in this area in 2018, following its establishment in 2017.  The outturn recorded in my Department's Appropriation Accounts for office equipment, premises and external IT services for the years concerned are also relevant and cover areas of expenditure additional to the above.