Dept. spends over half a million euro on Galway City rents

The department that administers social welfare payments in Galway pays out more than half a million euro a year to rent three buildings in the city.

The Department of Social Protection, responsible for dispensing dole payments and other social welfare payments in the city, leases three buildings in the city centre.

It leases two premises at Hynes Building at St Augustine Street – one costs €235,000 annually and the other costs €222,000.

The department also spends €105,000 annually on an office at Cathedral Square, known as Island House.

The department shares the cost of rent for leasing part (36%) of Galway Public Service Card Centre, off Eyre Square. It pays €32,000 annually for that.

Elsewhere in County Galway the department’s leasing arrangements for properties is far less of a financial burden.

It spends €12,700 annually on its Ballinasloe social welfare office;  €8,700 yearly on its premises in Gort; €13,800 for its Loughrea office; and exactly €14,000 for its Tuam offices.

Nationally the Commissioners of Public Works currently lease 150 properties that are occupied solely by the Department of Social Protection.

A further 13 leased properties are shared by the Department of Social Protection and other Departments or State Agencies, according to the figures released by the Government.

The latest Central Statistics Office figures show 725 fewer people are ‘signing on’ in the city, which is a reduction of six per cent compared with August last year.

Currently the numbers claiming dole payments in the city stands at 11,909; when added to the county figures the total signing on in Galway is 22,760, a year-on-year decline of about 4.5 per cent.

For more on this story, see the current edition of the Galway City Tribune