Cabra Intreo centre was closed with little planning, or evaluation of how it would impact its users

When the Navan Road Intreo centre in Cabra closed in April 2022, residents of Dublin 7 were told the closure was temporary – a routine instance of scheduled maintenance intended to keep a public building fit for purpose.

But, nearly four years later, the office has not reopened as an Intreo centre. Instead, An Garda Síochána is using it – and there appear to be no plans for that to change.

Declan Meenagh, who lives in the area and is visually impaired, says that when he needed to renew his Public Services Card recently, he had to go to the Parnell Street Intreo centre instead.

The distance from the old location in Cabra, to the Parnell Street centre, is more than 3 km: 15 minutes by car, 30 minutes by bus, or 43 minutes by foot, according to Google Maps. 

“It was quite difficult,” says Meenagh, a former Labour councillor. “I ended up having to get a colleague to show me just because I didn't know where it was.” 

Services like Intreo centres have in recent years been moved online, or consolidated into offices further away from people, Meenagh says. 

“It's just bad taking more vulnerable people and making their lives harder and it really is just wrong,” he says. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Social Services said that “all customers, including those based in Dublin 7, can access services in-person through the Department’s extensive network ... or online”.

But the centralisation of Intreo services can have immediate effects on people who need to go to them, says Rebecca Gorman, of the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed.  

“People risk having their income cut by €90 if they miss mandatory appointments,” Gorman says. “Shutting down the local Intreo makes it much harder to attend these.” 

It also can decrease engagement with such services over the longer term, she says. 

“Local, person-facing services are needed for people to access support and advice,” she says. “These services are absolutely vital and shouldn't be shut down without justification and a plan of action for the communities affected.”

Requests for documents from multiple public bodies under the Freedom of Information Act suggest that the building was handed over to An Garda Síochána, and the Intreo centre closed, without much planning.

And these requests for documents failed to turn up documents to justify the decision, such as a value-for-money analysis, or an equality assessment. 

The closure

 At the time of the shutdown, assurances were given that the service would return once works were completed on the building, which is owned by the Office of Public Works (OPW). 

Yet there had been no final plan for the works on the building when the Intreo office was closed, the then Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys, a Fine Gael TD, said in the Dáíl in July 2022, in response to a question from Sinn Féin TD Mary Lou McDonald.

“Given the significant increase in construction and maintenance costs in recent months, including in building supplies, it was decided, before finalising the works contract, to reviedrow the future use of the building at Navan Road to ensure efficient and effective use of resources,” Humphries said.

Indeed, in response to a query from the Department of Social Protection (DSP) about the building’s future, an OPW official replied in a 30 September 2022 email released under Freedom of Information.

“As you are aware the Navan Rd building is currently unoccupied and the intention has been that it would be refurbished in the future,” the email said.

Why did the DSP close the Intreo centre before it had nailed down the plans for the maintenance works? A spokesperson for the DSP did not respond directly.

“The Department vacated the Navan Road office for scheduled maintenance work. Before the work commenced, the building at Navan Road was allocated by the Office of Public Works to An Garda Síochána,” the DSP spokesperson said.

And an OPW spokesperson did not respond to queries regarding the decision to close the Intreo office without a signed works contract for the building.

Still, despite this lack of concrete plans for the works on the building, in November 2022, the DSP wrote to Meenagh, then a Dublin city councillor, saying that, “It had been expected that the Intreo Centre would re open when the works had been completed in late 2022/early 2023.” 

However, the OPW had then advised the DSP that “an urgent situation has arisen where there is a requirement to use the Navan Road Intreo Centre on a temporary basis to provide accommodation for critical units of An Garda Síochána (AGS)”.

Oops

The OPW had been building a new headquarters – to replace the previous HQ at Harcourt Square – on Military Road for the Gardaí. 

It was due to be completed toward the end of 2022 for an estimated €86.6 million, according to a report from the Dáil Public Accounts Committee. 

But Garda numbers had been growing and the building was already too small before it even opened. 

“Recent increases in Garda personnel, combined with changes to Garda operations, has resulted in other locations being required to house some of the units currently based in Harcourt Square,” the report found. 

Among these additional locations? The building on Navan Road where the Intreo centre had been housed, according to OPW chair Maurice Buckley.

An email from an OPW official to the DSP said that “the OPW is obliged to critically examine all demands and to prioritise property requests”. 

“Releasing the Navan Rd property for immediate use by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris for essential operation matters would represent optimum use of the property,” the email said.

An internal email written by an OPW official on the Estate Management team in September 2022 said “the site is being given to the Gardaí”.

“The Dept. informed Fórsa & the AHCPS [Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants] today that it will not be returning to the Navan Road Intreo office,” the email says. 

Works worth €116,547 (ex-VAT) were done on the Navan Road building, Buckley had told the Public Accounts Committee in a written response to questions. 

But its use as a Garda office was only supposed to be an “interim temporary” solution, Buckley told the PAC. 

And the DSP told Meenagh, then a Labour councillor for the area, the same thing in November 2022.

“It is expected that AGS will require this accommodation until April next year [2023],” the DSP’s letter to Meenagh said.

However, in March 2026, they’re still there.

“The  tenancy by AGS [An Garda Síochána] was only ever supposed to be temporary, but with the passing time that now looks less likely,” Labour TD Marie Sherlock, who represents the area, said recently.

Asked last month when An Garda Síochána plans to leave the building, a spokesperson said: “An Garda Síochána continues to occupy and use the premises on the Navan Road.”

Value-for-money?

Capital projects involving a significant change in function are expected to undergo proportionate appraisal and value-for-money assessment, according to Department of Public Expenditure Infrastructure Guidelines.  

That’s to ensure that reallocations of public buildings are justified relative to alternative options, including reinstating community services. 

When asked about compliance with these guidelines, in the case of the Navan Road building’s change from an Intreo centre to a Garda office, a Department of Public Expenditure spokesperson directed queries to the Gardaí and DSP.

In response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act for a copy of a planned review in 2022/2023 into the future use of the building, a DSP official said the department did not have the document.  It was “overtaken by an urgent request from the OPW”, they said. 

In response to a request for any cost-benefit analysis completed since January 2024 comparing the cost of reopening the Navan Road site versus the cost of continuing to redirect people to Parnell Street or Blanchardstown Intreo centres, the DSP replied that, “No records of a cost benefit analysis of the Navan Road site are held by the department.”

Human impact

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission does not comment on individual cases, an IHREC spokesperson said. 

But “Our guidance recommends a public body undertake an equality and human rights impact assessment before adopting a policy and making a decision which may have significant implications on equality and human rights”, the spokesperson said. 

In response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act, a DSP official said that “No formal Social Impact Assessments or Equality Impact Reports have been conducted regarding the relocation of Cabra-based customers to Parnell Street.”

The department has no records of monthly data showing the number of Cabra-based customers being serviced at the Parnell Street Intreo centre, the official said. 

Nor does it have any records of assessing how the increased capacity at Parnell Street has impacted service delivery standards there, they said. . 

Asked about all this, a Department of Social Protection spokesperson did not directly address the absence of these reports. 

“The Department recognises its obligation to have due regard to human rights and equality issues ... in its Statement of Strategy (2023–2026) and its Public Sector Duty Assessment and Action Plan 2024–2025,” the spokesperson said.

Under-used?

Although the Gardaí say they’re using the building, local Sinn Féin Councillor Séamas McGrattan says it does not seem to be occupied – except by security guards and cleaners.

“We're not getting value for money there,” McGrattan said. “It was taken away from the community which I think needs people back in as soon as possible.” 

“Maybe not as an Intreo office but there's plenty of uses it could be used for,” he said. “It's a huge asset that could be used by the community groups”