The Office of Public Works has rejected suggestions that it has wasted €32m building a new state-of-the-art headquarters in Trim which is under-occupied because OPW staff don't want to move to the Co Meath town.

In his recent criticism of the cost of the government's ill-fated decentralisation programme, the Comptroller and Auditor General, John Buckley, noted that the OPW's Trim headquarters was designed to accommodate 334 staff but currently has 238 in place.

While most departments have encountered the same lack of enthusiasm for decentralisation, this is particularly embarrassing for the OPW as it is the lead department in organising the mass move of public servants out of the capital.

The building in Trim, which was designed by the OPW itself, is seen as a blueprint for the eco-friendly and energy efficient public office of the future.

But most OPW staff working in its Georgian headquarters on St Stephen's Green in Dublin city centre were not interested in moving to the new building in Trim. While close to 240 predominantly administrative staff have moved, most of them came from other government offices.

The OPW still operates a bus every weekday morning from Dublin to Trim and back again in the evening to accommodate staff who are willing to work in the midlands but want to remain living in Dublin.

Meanwhile, the majority of the OPW professional and technical staff including architects, engineers, and quantity surveyors have opted to remain in Dublin though there are some working in Trim. Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Martin Mansergh, said that he was committed to being in his office most days when the Dáil is not sitting.

A spokesman for the OPW said that while there are still desks to be filled in Trim, the process of decentralisation is still ongoing.