Office accommodation rented by the Office of Public Works (OPW) for as much as €150,000 a year has remained unoccupied for up to three years, according to the C&AJ report.
The cost of fitting out offices for use by the Probation and Welfare Service also turned out far higher than originally projected. In the case of one building in Dublin, the fit-out cost has risen from a projection of €150,000 to over €1.5 million.
The C&AJ criticises the "inordinate delay" in signing lease agreements for the offices subsequent to the commencement of lease payments.
He also questions the "huge disparity" between estimated and actual fit-out costs and says the matter raises serious questions about the adequacy of the OPW's procedures for renting property.
In total, the OPW leased five properties for the Probation Service and began paying rents in 2000 and 2001. However, no lease agreements have been signed.
The annual rent involved varies from €152,000 (plus another €50,000 in service charges) for a property in Dublin, to €19,000 for offices in the south-east.
The OPW attributes the delay to legal complications and "discontinuities in workflow" that followed an internal reorganisation. The OPW started paying rent for the Dublin property in June 2001, but the offices will not be occupied until this month.
Although the OPW valuer estimated that the rent for this property should have been €11.50 per square foot, a rate of €20.31 was agreed. The OPW defended this by saying the first year was free, and the rate compared favourably with that paid by other tenants in the shopping centre.
