Central Bank and Regulator to spend €8m on new offices

Neil Callanan

Lowest tender not chosen for fit out and rent will be €2.5m per annum in Dublin docks

John Hurley: Central Bank chief

The Central Bank and the Financial Regulator are to spend almost €8m of public money on a fit out for new offices in Spencer Dock in Dublin's docklands. A spokeswoman for the Financial Regulator confirmed that the lowest tender was not chosen for the job.

Building firm John Sisk & Sons beat off competition from 23 other contractors to secure the contract for the 5,500sq m fit out. This means the two agencies will be spending about €1,430 per square metre, the kind of budget normally reserved for major corporate headquarters, according to the new handbook from construction consultants Bruce Shaw.

The building was developed by Treasury Holdings, the Irish property development company controlled by Johnny Ronan and Richard Barrett. Based on standard rents in Dublin's north docks, the agencies are likely to be paying an annual rent of about €2.5m for the offices, which will be "overspill" accommodation in addition to their main buildings on Dame Street.

The head of the Central Bank, John Hurley, is one of the best paid central bankers in the world. He earned in excess of €345,000 in 2007, more than European Central Bank president Jean Claude Trichet, US?Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and Bank of Japan governor Masaaki Shirakawa.

The Central Bank and the Financial Services Authority of Ireland (CBFSAI), which includes the Financial Regulator and the Central Bank, has also awarded a facilities management contract worth €2.6m for the new building to Vector FM, a property services company which is chaired by Irish businessman Niall McFadden.

The Central Bank will retain its existing headquarters on Dame Street and another office on the same street. Both the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator are set to undergo major reform following a series of embarrassing controversies over the past six months, mainly related to Anglo Irish Bank.

Finance minister Brian Lenihan announced last week that the practice of appointing a senior civil servant as governor of the Central Bank is to end. Instead, an international search will be carried out when current governor John Hurley retires.

The Financial Regulator spokeswoman also said they were still at the early stages of the process of appointing forensic IT consultants, property consultants, corporate finance experts and other expertise in relation to the government's bank guarantee scheme.

"It is anticipated that the process will take a number of months. The tender is not in response to the current issues and it would be wrong to suggest it is related to current events," the spokeswoman said.

She added that the aim was to appoint a panel of specialists "which all departments in the Financial Regulator could consult with, and use as required" over the next four years.

March 1, 2009

Comments

#1 Shark Trager commented, on March 1, 2009 at 2:21 p.m.:

I am prepared to take a beating on taxes both direct and otherwise in the belief,that this short term (hopefully)pain will get us out of the hole the incompetents (I include the utterly useless Financial Regulator here) have landed us in....then I read this and you know you would just feel like crying,words fail me...

#2 Bal commented, on March 1, 2009 at 3:01 p.m.:

Is the same Regulator who last month told credit unions " Capital expenditure (e.g. on
premises) must be carefully evaluated and curtailed"?

#3 c carroll commented, on March 1, 2009 at 6:08 p.m.:

if this was any other country mr.hurley would have been fired long ago. how can the people of this country have confidence in an administration who are now asking people to contribute more of their hard earned honest cash when it is wasted like this.it would appear we have alot in common with ceaucescus romania.

#4 Tony commented, on March 1, 2009 at 9:56 p.m.:

€8m for more space for our regulators to sit on their hands. How many medical cards would that pay for? Europe is setting up its own watchdog. Wait and see, when that happens we'll still have to pay for our own useless lot.

#5 Robert Browne commented, on March 1, 2009 at 11:39 p.m.:

Is there anybody in Ireland who earns less than Barak Obama? One thing we do not suffer from is massive over inflated ego's! However, we do suffer fools gladly! It is such a pity that we don't have the money to pay everyone a million or two, just because you are worth it! Our salaries are a recipe for the financial disaster that is coming down the line and we deserve it.

#6 g.tynan commented, on March 2, 2009 at 9:30 a.m.:

Where's this stupidity going to end, is there nobody who can control the profligacy?

#7 Frustrated commented, on March 2, 2009 at 4:43 p.m.:

Why don't we boot the fraudsters out of the Anglo Irish offices and set up the Central Bank offices there instead. This is a joke. How much longer are we going to sit back and take this. There are children with special needs who are losing their teachers just so the Central Bank can have more space!!! What about when John O'Donoghues offices were done up in Leinster House. There were thousands spent on curtains alone.... This really has to stop and which one of us going to stand up and make it happen? Not our Taoiseach BRIAN COWAN!!!!!

#8 Des commented, on March 3, 2009 at 2:10 p.m.:

Ha ha, the failure of the Celtic Tiger is now complete....

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