Cork properties lying idle while OPW shells out more than €20m in rent

More than €20m has been spent by the Office of Public Works (OPW) on renting buildings in Cork in the last five years, despite it owning 14 vacant buildings in the county.

OPW minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran said the agency provides office and other accommodation for Government departments and State bodies through a combination of leased and State-owned properties.

Figures show the OPW spent €3.7m in 2021, €3.9m in 2022, €3.8m in 2023, €3.6m in 2024, €3.6m in 2025, and €1.8m so far in 2026, with annual rents ranging from €100 to €650,000.

The highest rental cost was for Abbeycourt House on George’s Quay, where the OPW paid €3,575,000 over the five-and-a-half-year period.

This is followed by the Irish Life Building turned-government office on the South Mall, rented for €2,979,339, and the Cork Hiqa office in Mahon for €2,139,176.

More than €1m has been paid for a further three facilities — €1,869,340 for Unit 7 in the Elysian, €1,677,755 for the Cork Probation and Welfare Office on Cove St, and €1,147,139 for Cork Hibernian House on South Mall.

The figures come after Mr Moran revealed last month that the OPW owns or manages 15 surplus vacant properties in Cork city and county, comprising 14 buildings and one site.

Coastguard properties

The vacant buildings include five former coastguard properties which have been in OPW care for at least 30 years.

Most of the properties on the list are described as being prepared for transfer or lease to council, or being prepared for disposal. One property is at the sale-agreed stage, while alternative State use is being examined for a former Garda station and residence in Castletownshend.

However, the status of 12 of the properties is unchanged from when Mr Moran last provided information on the topic a year ago.

The latest figures show that 45 properties were rented by the OPW in Cork between the start of 2021 and mid-2026.

Rent increased at around a quarter of those properties.

However, the overall rent paid out has decreased slightly, as there were 11 properties that were rented in 2021 for around €200,000 a year cumulatively, which are no longer rented, including Connolly Hall in the city centre and buildings in Bantry, Fermoy, Youghal, Mallow, and Carrigaline.

Garda interview suite

Three new properties have been added: A property in Navigation Square where €97,038 has been paid this year so far; a Garda interview suite where €20,373 was paid in 2025 and €12,500 in 2026 to date, and a social protection office in Bantry, where rent payments of €80,866 a year began in 2023.

The data was provided to Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, who said: “This is while the OPW currently owns vacant buildings in Cork that are being left to rot.

“There are serious questions about the OPW’s use of public money — from bike sheds to million-euro rental deals.

“The minister for public expenditure should be taking a much stronger hand in these situations.”