The Public Accounts Committee has heard the I-D-A has bought out a lease on an empty building in Dublin that was costing the taxpayer €1 million a year.

The agency was due to pay out the money for the next 20 years for the premises in Ballsbridge that also houses the Israeli embassy.

The Comptroller and Auditor General says they settled the lease on Carrisbrook House last year for €9.4 million.

Seamus McCarthy says it was next to impossible to get any other tenant into the building due to security concerns: