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A CIVIL SERVANT has been paying €104 in rent each year to the Department of Agriculture to live in a cottage owned by the State.
This was revealed in a report about the number of assets the Department owns and controls for the Public Accounts Committee and the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) today.
No “centralised” estate management system exists for the Department, according to the report, meaning that, along with the cottage, a State-controlled forest was also incorrectly accounted for in their portfolio.
The report details that a visit to what was believed to be one forest plot owned by the Department in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow found that there was actually two separate sites at the location.
It is further detailed that one site, in the townland of Lackan, turned out to be owned and controlled by Coillte – the for-profit forestry agency set up by the State in 1988 – while the other site, in the townload of Monastery, is owned and controlled by the Department.
The report adds that the Monastery site was intended to be disposed of by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, but that has yet to be done.
In total, there are 33 forest plots in the Department’s current property portfolio.
“When I read this chapter my jaw dropped,” Green Party TD Marc Ó Cathasaigh said during a Public Accounts Committee hearing today. “You lost a forest.”
Brendan Gleenson, the Secretary General of the Department, threw up his hands in reply, seeming to acknowledge the error.
The Public Accounts Committee today also heard that some confusion over a number of cottages in Backweston estate, in Celbridge, Co Kildare, led to the Department choosing to rent one of the properties, Stacumny Cottage, to an employee since 2011.
The report states that the arrangement was put in place “to mitigate against leaving the property vacant for lengthy periods of time and to prevent the property from becoming derelict”.
The cost of the rent at the cottage is €104 per year, according to the report – which comes out to just €2 a week.
The Department told the report that the cottage has also been used to provide shared, temporary accommodation for staff on an ad hoc informal basis but there is no “clear business purpose or policy in place” for the use of the property.
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See! They can deliver affordable housing.
Looks like a lovely spot. I’d need a look around inside before I gazump the current tenant, with an outrageous offer of €3 per week.
@honey badger: might be in a rent pressure zone…highest it could go to is 106.08 a year!
@honey badger: go for it
Lads, €3 cash. In the paw. We’ll say no more about it.
@honey badger: LOL then rent it out for a tenner a week and you’d make a tidy profit margin.
@Mr Inbetween: I’m standing on the shoulders of giants!
@honey badger: A classmate of mine used to pay £9 a week for a room in Athlone in 1993-94, in one of the bungalows at Meadowbrook, though the place was very damp. That was the cheapest place. Most students were paying £25 – £30 per week. He also wore the same green jumper with a hole burnt in the sleeve every day, even in the depths of winter, never wore a coat.
@David Jordan: there were empty houses in Mel’s terrace he could have moved in to one for free
@Jb Walshe: Notorious place. I heard before there were holes knocked in the walls of every attic so one could travel from one end of the terrace to the other without stepping out your front door. Like the forbidden city in Hong Kong.
He has nothing on a land commission employee who was paid for over 12 years for doing NOTHING.
I wonder who the Tenant is related to. Who set the rent. Another scam
Throwing up his hands, ffs. Nobody accountable, is this guy getting Secretary General of the Dept pay, should be ashamed with these revelations. Govt Dept’s are absolute doss houses, anyone who has ever had to experience them knows, nobody gives a shite, from the top to the bottom. In the private world these people would be sacked.
@SV3tN8M4: well there you are, hey a job in the Department and start a clean out, Civil Service always looking for staff
Along with barter accounts, there is no proof that this carry on is endemic across the public sector.
No proof.
If there was proof, those whistle-blowers would be treated with the utmost respect and wouldn’t be shunned.
Fair play
Very ironic advert with a blow up bed in the back of a car on this article
@Jb Walshe: And an advert for tents also!
Revenue???
Benefit in Kind??
Great country all the same if you’re in the right position
Class
It is far better than a cottage, the better news outlet published pictures
He should have tried to claim HAP would have been free altogether with a nice profit aswel.
Did anyone ask the question who made the decision to rent the cottage at 2 euro a week.
@David Murray: there would have to be transparency and it would need to be done in solidarity as mehole would say
They could not see the wood for the trees
have your say