The Office of Public Works (OPW) spent over €20m to rent offices there that were completely empty, a new report has found, writes Brian Mahon.

This is also as over 70% of OPW employees’ desks outside of Dublin were already empty because of post-Covid remote working.

A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General found that the Distillers Building in Dublin 7 had the second-highest rent in Dublin at €10m, yet has been empty for over 18 months.

The building is expected to be the headquarters for Tailte Éireann, the Chief State Solicitor’s Office, the Valuation Tribunal and the Insolvency Service of Ireland from this month, having been empty through 2024 and this year.

The lease term commenced in July 2022, and since the expiry of a rent-free period in March 2024, the OPW has paid rent totalling €12m, excluding VAT, up to the end of September 2025.

The OPW also paid rent of €7.9m between May 2019 and March 2024 for the Bishop’s Square building on Dublin’s Kevin Street that also was not occupied because of ownership difficulties and delays in fitting them out.

The report said: “Rent of almost €7.9m (excluding VAT) was paid by the OPW from May 2019 to March 2024, while the property was not occupied.

“The net cost to the OPW of the fit- out was €10.45m (excluding VAT and fees) which exceeds the amount included in the January 2019 request for sanction by over 45%.”

When VAT is added to rent charges, the OPW paid well in excess of €20m for both buildings last year.

In October, 2024, the then Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy asked a parliamentary question about the Bishop’s Square building as the costs continued to mount.

The Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure, Kieran O’Donnell, replied: “I am informed by the Office of Public Works that Bishops Square is... occupied by a number of Government Departments and some private sector tenants.

“The OPW holds four separate leases in the building and the information requested is being collated.”

At the time it was leased, BNP Paribas Real Estate said it “acted on behalf of Hines as letting agents on the newly refurbished Bishop’s Square in Dublin 2.

“The building is now fully let following the completion of a letting of 4,357 sq m across the fourth to sixth floors to the OPW on a new long-term lease.”

The report notes that the OPW entered into a lease agreement on the Bishop’s Square building in May 2019 but that “due to delays with fit-out works, the intended tenant – the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade– did not occupy the building until May 2024”.

Total rent of €7.9m (excluding VAT) was paid by the OPW in respect of the period before the building was occupied.

The C&AG report also details Trinity Point, in Dublin city centre, which the OPW purchased for €39.85m (excluding VAT) in December 2023.

As of the end May 2025, the first floor of the building remained vacant.

The OPW has since stated that the first floor has now been allocated to a client who is in the process of occupying the space.

The OPW manages an estate of around 2,500 properties, including over 500 offices for civil servants.

After Covid-19, the OPW conducted a survey of its offices outside of Dublin, which stated: “The first surveys, completed during 2023 and 2024, covered 20 of 146 buildings located outside Dublin, spanning over 66,000 sq m in total.

“The surveys found a number of buildings with relatively low desk occupancy on the single day visited.

“Overall, 29% of desks were occupied with 71% unoccupied.”

Photo: Distillers Building in Smithfield, Dublin 7