DAERA’s headquarters office in Ballykelly, Co Derry, is mostly unoccupied, the Irish Farmers Journal can reveal.

The building, which cost £21m to construct, officially opened in May 2018 and has space for 470 desks.

However, it has remained almost empty since remote working arrangements were introduced for DAERA staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Irish Farmers Journal has visited the site several times over the past week and less than 25 cars were in the car park on every occasion. For instance, at 2.30pm on Monday, only 10 cars were outside the building.

High-spec

The high-spec office was built as part of a re-location project which aimed to get more civil servants out of the Belfast area.

Plans for the office at the former military site in Ballykelly were announced in September 2012 by the then Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill.

In June 2022, current Minister for Agriculture Edwin Poots changed the name of the building from Ballykelly House to Jubilee House to mark Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee.

DAERA has struggled to fill all available desks in the building since it was opened more than four years ago. Initially, 250 staff were relocated to the site and there were plans to gradually increase this to 390 staff by spring 2022.

The introduction of remote and hybrid working arrangements, where staff can work between home and the office, has meant that most desks in Jubilee House are unoccupied at any one time.

DAERA was approached for comment, but no response was received when the Irish Farmers Journal was going to press.