{TEXT} Dublin Castle is by far the most valuable property held by the Office of Public Works (OPW), the largest owner of real estate in the State. It is valued at £124 million (157 million), according to figures supplied to The Irish Times by the OPW whose total property portfolio is valued at some £2 billion (2.5 billion). This is the first time that individual values on the State's top 100-plus properties have been released.

Some of the individual values look on the low side. A spokesman for the OPW said the valuations were done on a formula basis and were indexed. OPW, he added, is moving on to a fully professional valuation basis. However, he stressed that while some properties could show higher values, he does not expect to see a huge variation in the overall value of the portfolio.

A property source who did not want to be named said the value placed on Dublin Castle is "not far off the mark" based on Dublin office values. The land in Phoenix Park, however, might only have a notional value, as it is likely to be preserved as park. It would be "a prestige thing" to own it, he added.

The value of Dublin Castle is well ahead of Government Buildings (£80 million - 102 million), Phoenix Park (£72 million - 91 million), Leinster House (£65 million - 83 million), OPW headquarters at 50-52 St Stephen's Green (£50 million - 64 million) and the Custom House in Dublin (£45 million - 57 million).

Dublin Castle generates considerable income from guided tours, conferences and the State Apartments. Total income rose from £1.8 million (2.3 million) in 1999 to £1.9 million (2.4 million) in 2000. Income from the State Apartments contributed £630,000 (800,000), while guided tours chipped in £437,000 (555,000). Tours of the State Apartments accounted for some 160,000 of the estimated 250,000 people who visited Dublin Castle and £231,000 (293,000) came from room hire.

The largest surplus at £450,000 (571,000) came from the State Apartments while guided tours had a surplus of £225,000 (286,000).

Overall, Dublin Castle pays for itself. After paying fixed costs of £352,000 (447,000) - decoration and restoration - it made a profit of £494,000 (627,000) in 2000, well above the profit of £240,000 (305,000) generated in the previous year.

OPW paid out £44.3 million (56.3m) in rents last year. The biggest was on behalf of the Revenue Commissioners with a rent bill of £8.2 million (10.4 million), followed by Justice, Equality and Law Reform (£7.1 million - 9.0 million), Social Community and Family Affairs (£5.2 million - 6.57 million), OPW (£4.99 million - 6.3 million) and Foreign Affairs (£3.37 million - 4.28 million).

The new OPW Commissioner, Mr David Byers, says his biggest problem ahead is the utilisation of space. While conceding that the Dublin offices "are almost fully utilised now", he says there is " pressure from departments for extra space all the time" and cites places like Agriculture House which are "over-utilised". OPW has also been under pressure to provide accommodation for the tribunals, he adds.

OPW's purchase of extra buildings in 2001 - its biggest purchase last year was an office block at 6/7 Hanover Street, Dublin, for the Refugee Appeals Board, for £20.8 million (26m) - largely depends on the Government's decentralisation programme which will involve up to 6,000 people moving from Dublin to other parts of the State. "We are busy identifying buildings that we might be able to give back to the market as a result of this decentralisation," he said. However, he would not identify the buildings in this interview.

OPW's purchase and off-load policy, he added, will also be influenced by staff demands in cutting transport time down "and the transport issues in getting people to work". He sees the steam going out of the office market, particularly in the Dublin 2 and 4 areas, "over the next few years when centralisation kicks in, and people are moved to various other areas and some of the other larger players in town also move out of the centre as well".

He noted that areas near the M50 motorway are attractive. "We will be looking farther afield than we would have five years ago". OPW "will try to consolidate around each Government department".

Asked how the provision of car-park spaces squares with the Government policy to use public transport, he said "we are conscious that Dublin Corporation in particular wants us to provide less car-parking spaces and to ask the civil service to use public transportation where available."

Mr Byers also noted that OPW was "equally conscious that there are places where viable public transport systems aren't in place yet". He conceded that car-parking space "is possibly the single most contentious issue with staff". He says they wrestle with this issue on a daily basis and that was one of the reasons why decentralisation and moving to the M50 would work so well for them - it would be easier to provide car-parking spaces there.

Recent acquisitions include several hotels, which are used to accommodate asylum seekers.

Other leased accommodation acquired included the West End Office Park, in Blanchardstown, with 100 car-parking spaces and Unit 4 in the Swords Business Centre for the CSO with 80 car-parking spaces.

Overall, the 251,731 sq ft of leasehold space acquired in Dublin last year has 379 car-parking spaces. In the provinces, the Mall in Waterford was acquired for the Revenue, HSA and CSO. It has 20 car-parking spaces.

Many of the others acquired outside Dublin have no car-parking spaces.