Gardaí may have to move out of their central Dublin headquarters building if agreement cannot be reached over lease arrangements with a private company which bought the property, the Commercial Court has heard.
The Office of Public Works (OPW) has leased four office blocks at the Harcourt Square site since the 1980s to provide office space for the force.
It houses Garda Command and Control and is one of the force’s most important operational centres, central to the State’s security and policing operations at national and regional level, according to the OPW. It also houses the Criminal Assets Bureau and the Garda emergency response unit.
By 1984, the lease covered all four blocks occupying a 1.9 acre site, around a third of which is occupied by the office blocks while the remainder includes access roads, car parking, security and services accommodation.
It was bought in March 2015 by property development company Hibernia Reit which wants to redevelop it to intensify its use with two planning permissions already obtained to more than double existing office space to 276,000sq ft.
Hibernia Reit was refused permission on Monday to have a dispute concerning a 1988 lease agreement with the OPW and access to common areas in the property fast-tracked in the Commercial Court.
Opposing the fast-track application, Denis McDonald SC, for the OPW, argued delay by Hibernia Reit bringing the proceedings meant this was not an urgent matter.
This would be a complex hearing which will have to address significant issues in relation to compensation for disturbance and as to when the gardaí would have to vacate, he said. A significant period of time would be required to find an alternative premises if it came to that, he added.
Four blocks
Paul Gallagher SC, for Hibernian Reit, argued there was no culpable delay and proceedings were not taken while negotiations had been continuing between the parties.
There was also a separate case to be heard yet in the Circuit Court in relation to the OPW’s application for a court-ordered lease renewal on three of the four blocks for which tenancy agreements have already ended by the passage of time, he said.
Any further delay would cost Hibernian a “very substantial amount”. The property was purchased for €80 million with another €80 million in development costs, he said.
The dispute over access to common areas made it impossible to carry out inspections and tests for the purpose of furthering redevelopment plans, he said.
Mr Justice McGovern found there was enough delay to merit him refusing to fast-track the case, meaning it will go through the normal High Court list.
Hibernia Reit’s chief operations officer Frank O’Neill said in an affidavit his company bought the property under a transaction with three other companies, Pecan Properties, Alvergold and Value Equipment.
Leases on three of the blocks had terminated while that on the fourth will end this December and the OPW is not entitled to new tenancies, he said. It was also critical his firm gained access to carry out detailed surveys in advance of redevelopment.
The OPW said it is willing to accommodate the firm insofar as is practicable so long as it does not jeopardise the security of “highly sensitive and immensely important activities of the Garda Síochána there”.