The Government has paid more than €26 million for a Dublin cash-and-carry business on the North Circular Road in a move it says will maximise the development potential of nearby Mountjoy Prison.
The purchase of Egan's wholesalers on a two-acre site opposite the Mater hospital in a private sale was completed before Christmas, the Department of Finance has confirmed.
Fine Gael Justice spokesman Deputy Jim O'Keeffe last night questioned the price paid for the premises and called on the Comptroller and Auditor General to investigate the purchase to ensure that it represented value for money.
Minister for Finance Brian Cowen told Deputy O'Keeffe, in reply to a written Dáil question, that the purchase of Egan's would give "the most efficient access arrangement" to the overall development of the Mountjoy Prison site.
The purchase price was €23.5 million, plus VAT of 13.5 per cent, bringing the total cost to over €26 million. VAT applies to the purchase of any building or site which has been redeveloped since 1972.
The Minister said the deal "creates a marriage value by combining the property with the larger Mountjoy site and increases the proposed development area".
The Government unveiled plans last July to redevelop the existing 22-acre Mountjoy site as a new "village" for Dublin with commercial, residential and retail development when the prison moves to Thornton Hall in north Dublin around 2010.
An OPW spokesman told The Irish Times that the purchase of the premises closed off the Mountjoy site and its environs and will greatly improve access to the overall area. He said an agent was appointed by the OPW to approach Egan's and negotiate the sale last year.
However, Deputy O'Keeffe said the price paid seemed very high and added that the incompetence of the Government in overpaying for the Thornton Hall site meant it could not be trusted to get good value for money. He said the matter needed to be investigated.
The ambitious regeneration project for Mountjoy is being carried out under the direction of the OPW by a design team headed by architectural firm, Heneghan Peng. It involve retaining the historic structures and the development of the canal as a new public green space.
A key issue will be the preservation of historical buildings on the site, along with unmarked graves belonging to former prisoners who were executed there.
Last year Minister of State at the Department of Finance Tom Parlon said the 20-acre site at Mountjoy Prison could be worth up to €2 billion to the State, with an acre getting anything from between €10 million to €100 million.
The prison dates back to 1850 and former inmates include republicans jailed during the War of Independence, such as Kevin Barry, who was executed along with nine other volunteers.