Killarney Town Council is tonight expected to approve the sale of a town-centre car park for €4.5 million for the decentralisation of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism.
However, a small number of councillors have criticised the proposed location, saying it would add to traffic congestion.
There has also been criticism that the council-owned site did not go to public tender.
Independent councillor Danny Healy-Rae said the sale of the site by one public body to another was "a cosy arrangement".
The sale of the 1.3-acre site to the Office of Public Works (OPW) follows a proposal from the town council. It was one of about 15 proposals received by the OPW from landowners and property developers in the Killarney area.
The sites were shortlisted on a range of factors, "not least the cost of acquiring the property", said an OPW spokesman.
The council is set to make over €3 million in profit from the sale of the property, known as "Jimmy the Masters", which it bought a number of years ago for just under €500,000. The proceeds are to go to an indoor sports and swimming pool complex.
Independent councillor Michael Courtney said the plan to decentralise up to 200 civil servants was a huge boost for the town.
However, a Fine Gael county councillor in the Killarney area, Tom Sheahan, has warned that the location of the offices in the High Street area would bring "Dublin gridlock" to Killarney.
He welcomed the decentralisation but said the location was wrong.
Mr Healy-Rae has said the sale was "a waste of a valuable piece of ground", and that the site was needed as a car park.
"Who is to say they would not have got €10 million for it if it went for public tender?"
There was too much of "a cosy arrangement" about the fact that one public body [ OPW] was buying from another public body [ Killarney Town Council], and the money was then ending up in a Government-funded sports and leisure centre.