Health department to move from Hawkins House

The Department of Health is to move to a new site off Gardiner Street in Dublin, The Irish Times has learned.

The relocation is expected to take place next year. However, the move will only be for a four-year period.

It is understood that the Government has decided that the department should eventually be located in the current headquarters of the Department of Education on Marlborough Street.

That department is moving as part of the decentralisation process.

The current Department of Health headquarters at Hawkins House in Dublin city centre is to be sold.

Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney has been a strong critic of the current Hawkins House location.

Shortly after taking office last year, Ms Harney commented that "half the windows in Hawkins House do not open and the other half do not close".

Last year there were proposals that the Department of Health should move to a site on Burlington Road on the south side of Dublin. However, these plans fell through.

The Hawkins House site, which is the former location of the Theatre Royal, was also considered by the Government as a possible new home for the Abbey Theatre.

Hawkins House has frequently been criticised as one of the uglier office buildings in Dublin.