There is an emerging lack of confidence about the ability of the Office of Public Works (OPW) to acquire, manage and dispose of property according to the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Michael Noonan.
Mr Noonan was speaking at the launch of a report into, among other issues, the effectiveness of the OPW in managing property deals.
The report says the OPW spent €19 million on five properties to house asylum seekers that were never used.
It criticises the lack of pre-planning or community consultation before purchasing the five properties which are now worth less than was paid for them. One property in Myshall, Co Carlow was purchased for €1.3 million in 2000 and is now worth just €500,000 on the open market.
The OPW was obliged to pay more than the market rate for each of the five properties because of significant local opposition to asylum seekers being housed in the area.
Mr Noonan said the committee was very concerned about the serious waste of taxpayers’ money and stressed the urgency of the OPW getting its "house in order" to avoid the same mistakes being made in the roll-out of the Government’s decentralisation process.
The OPW is charged with buying and selling property under that process.
"Skilled professionals are needed in the OPW to deal with buying and selling property. They need to review their resource base to ensure they have the expertise necessary to undertake complex property transactions. And if not, they need to acquire it quickly - on a contract basis if necessary."
"It takes exceptional skill to have bought property in this country four years ago and to have made a loss on it," he added.
Responding to allegations by Tom Parlon, the Minister with responsibility for the OPW, that the PAC was being "unfair" by focusing on one aspect of the its business, Mr Noonan said: "The Parlon defence that because we don’t lose money every week aren’t we great fellows doesn’t work. That isn’t the kind of defence I’d like to go to the High Court on."
The vice-chairman of the PAC, Mr John McGuinness, said if the OPW were a private company it would be closed down.
"The OPW needs to be dragged into the modern world of property management," he said.
The report also criticised the OPW for going €23 million over budget on the refurbishment of the new Cork courthouse. It says it failed to take costs for temporary court accommodation into account and said there was a serious loss of taxpayers’ money in the negotiation of the lease at three times the original rent.