The Office of Public Works (OPW) paid almost €700,000 to Revenue last year to settle benefit-in-kind liabilities resulting from it renting residential properties in its portfolio to staff at far below market rates.
A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General found that of 34 residential properties owned and managed by the OPW, rent was being paid on just 13 and the average monthly rent received on these was €169.
The individual amounts ranged between €56 and €367 a month, while the average market rent would have been €1,750, it is stated.
Questioned on the issue, the OPW stated “a previous Revenue compliance check on [benefit in kind] liabilities arising from occupation of residential property had resulted in an unprompted disclosure in 2018.”
It made a further disclosure in 2021 and “has paid €698,600 to settle liabilities (including interest of €140,400 and penalties of €12,000) for the years 2022 to 2025″, the report said. The settlement is currently under review by Revenue.
It was noted that the OPW had generally seen the occupation of its residential properties by its own staff as a way of guarding against vandalism and other issues, including in the Phoenix Park, where more than half of the properties are located. It was also seen as a way of facilitating employees to carry out their roles and that “this was reflected in the rents charged”.
In the 2015 Phoenix Park Lodge Policy document, drawn up in relation to just one property and not, as appears to have been intended, replicated, it stated employees should vacate the property upon retirement.
However, the report notes that “since 2015, the number of residential properties in the Phoenix Park managed by the OPW that are occupied by OPW employees has more than halved and properties housing retired OPW employees almost doubled.
“The OPW stated that continued occupancy by retirees was permitted on compassionate and practical grounds. It intends that this practice will be discontinued once the new residential policy is implemented.”
Among the findings was that two properties owned by the OPW and listed as vacant had effectively been taken over by the owners of neighbouring properties with one being used for storage. Work had been carried out on the other so as to create a single premises, which was being lived in.
“This work appears to have been done without the prior knowledge or approval of the OPW,” the report suggests. “However, there is evidence that the OPW has been aware of this situation at least since the late 1990s.”
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The OPW had a poor inspection regime with inadequate records of what inspections had been carried out. It notes that when requests were made for the records of inspections of 20 properties, they were provided in just nine cases.
The OPW reported having spent €7.7 million on maintenance and construction costs in relation to residential properties between 2020 and 2025 but “could not provide a listing of the costs incurred on each individual property”.
“However, five properties accounted for almost half of the total costs, with over €900,000 spent on one property,” the report said. “Three of these properties are now occupied by OPW employees. The other two properties have remained vacant since refurbishment was completed in December 2025.”
More widely, the report suggests the OPW was at fault for poor management and record-keeping, breaches of its own policies and a failure to draw up or update policies in relation to the supervision, maintenance or renting of its properties.
The organisation owns a total of 92 residential properties across the State, with 36 of these assigned to other entities including 12 to An Garda Síochána.
When the inspection team sought documentation in relation to the 36 assignments, however, it was told that none could be provided. “The OPW stated that it now intends to put formal agreements in place for OPW-owned properties managed by other entities,” the report notes.