The Office of Public Works is in negotiation to buy 7-9 Merrion Row in Dublin 2, currently occupied by the National Museum of Ireland. The sale of the 17,845 sq ft building is expected to be closed by the end of the month for a figure likely to be around £5.8 million. Bank of Ireland Asset Management owns the building, which is being sold through DTZ Sherry FitzGerald.

In recent years, the OPW has had a policy of purchasing buildings it occupies on a long standing lease when they come on the market. The four-storey Merrion Row premises currently produces a rent of £195,000, which works out at around £12 per sq ft. This would have risen to £25 per sq ft at the next rent review in October. National Museum staff are due to relocate to Collin's Barracks and the OPW is expected to move into part of another Government department in the Merrion Row building.