Irish civil servant paying €2 a week for 12 years to live in State-owned country cottage

In a report presented to the Committee of Public Accounts it has been revealed that a staff member of the Department of Agriculture has been living in a cottage owned by the Department since 2011 with an annual rent of €104.

The report states that the annual rent is €104 annually, meaning the civil servant was paying just €2 per week to live in the property.

The property in question, Stacummy Cottage, is located on the lands of Backweston farm, on the outskirts of County Dublin and has been in the Department's ownership since 1961. The cottage was previously occupied by a farm labourer and his family, and subsequently by his widow, until 2011.

The report states that tenancy agreement in place was " in order to mitigate against leaving the property vacant for lengthy periods of time and to prevent the property from becoming derelict."

The report also states that "The Department stated that the cottage has also been used to provide shared temporary accommodation for staff on an ad hoc informal basis." and that an examination on the property found that the property had "had no clear business purpose or policy in place for the use of the cottage."

In the rest of the section in relation to cottage the report reads :

"The Department is currently developing a proposal that will prioritise access for visiting
scientists to support inter-laboratory collaboration with counterparts in Northern Ireland and other EU member states. This proposal will involve some modification and
renovation of the property to make it more suitable for use as short-stay temporary accommodation for visiting scientists and the Department believes the proposal will facilitate active participation in North-South collaboration and EU collaborative activities."

The link to the full report presented at the Committee of Public Accounts can be found by following the link HERE.