St Luke's office signed over to FF

The trust that controls St Luke’s, Bertie Ahern’s former constituency office in Drumcondra in Dublin 9, has signed the building over to Fianna Fáil.

It was agreed earlier this year that the building would be transferred into the ownership of the party and Fianna Fáil said the trustees of St Luke’s had engaged "proactively and positively" with this process.

St Luke’s was bought in 1988 for £56,000 and renovated so that it could be used as a constituency centre for Mr Ahern. It became the centre of his power base, where many key decisions, of both local and national interest, were made during his years as a TD and as taoiseach.

“At the time of the purchase of the property in 1987, the trustees decided that St Luke’s was to be used for the benefit of the local Fianna Fáil organisation in the Dublin Central Constituency and that the ultimate beneficiary of the Trust was the Fianna Fáil National Party,” Fianna Fáil said in a statement.

The trustees of St Luke’s, Joe Burke, Des Richardson and Tim Collins, earlier this year said statements suggesting they intended to hold on to the property for themselves or that they were opposed to Fianna Fáil headquarters having control of it were “inaccurate and totally without foundation”.

They said Mr Ahern, before he announced his resignation from Fianna Fáil, urged them to co-operate with headquarters and to enter into “constructive and positive discussions” to bring about a situation where ownership of the property would be vested in the party nationally.

“Fianna Fáil wishes to thank the trustees of St Luke’s for their full and active co-operation throughout. It has been a very constructive process,” the party said.