The Department of Education has said it is "amazed" that the north Dublin site used by Squash Ireland until last month has been offered for sale.
The Department, which owns the site at Howth Road in Clontarf, has sought fresh legal advice from the Chief State Solicitor's office about the proposed sale which was advertised in The Irish Times on Monday.
Squash Ireland, which operated health and fitness centres in Dartry, in south Dublin, and Clontarf, went into receivership before Christmas.
Guide prices of about £450,000 for the Dartry site and £350,000 for the Clontarf facility have been set by Sherry FitzGerald, the estate agent handling the sale for the receiver, Mr Jack Gleeson. The advertisement said the Clontarf sale is "subject to agreement with the Department of Education".
Mr Tom Hamilton of Sherry FitzGerald said yesterday they had been instructed to sell "on the understanding that a new lease will be forthcoming".
However a Department spokesman said no negotiations would be held with any potential purchaser until it had regained possession of the site. "There have been no such negotiations to date and we were amazed to see an ad offering for sale a site which is owned by us," he added. He said the Department had written to the receiver last Friday asking him to surrender possession of the site. This followed advice from the Chief State Solicitor's office that it should seek repossession and the recoupment of rent arrears of £20,000.