Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan has attributed the inaccurate information he gave to the Dáil about the full pay package of former Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to a “narrow interpretation” of a parliamentary question, reports RTE.
The Labour Party’s Justice spokesperson Alan Kelly has accused the minister of misleading the Dáil and called for a fuller explanation.
In October, Mr Kelly tabled a parliamentary question seeking details of the remuneration package for the former Garda commissioner, reports RTE.
In reply, the Minister for Justice outlined Mr Harris’s salary.
His answer, however, omitted any reference to a confidential arrangement under which An Garda Síochána covered Mr Harris’s rent on a residence in the Phoenix Park, reports RTE.
It emerged on Thursday that the former Garda Commissioner paid no rent on the Spa Road property throughout his term.
Instead, An Garda Síochána leased the house from the Office of Public Works (OPW) at a yearly rent of €21,000 between 2018 and 2025, reports RTE.
The Public Accounts Committee was told that the rent remained unchanged during that time despite sharp increases in the wider market.
Mr Kelly has insisted the minister must return to the Dáil to place all facts on the record, describing it as a “disturbing and worrying issue”, reports RTE.
A spokesperson for the Minister for Justice said the original reply to Mr Kelly’s parliamentary question had been incomplete.
They said: “The minister acknowledges that the reply should have contained complete information regarding the former commissioner’s remuneration package.
“This would have included a rental agreement between An Garda Síochána and the OPW, and an entitlement to a pension contribution equivalent to 18.4% of salary which was waived by the former commissioner,” reports RTE.
She added that Minister O’Callaghan intends to write to Mr Kelly to clarify the matter.
Today, Minister of State at the Department of Justice Niall Collins said he was confident the individual involved had paid benefit-in-kind tax to the Revenue, reports RTE.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s Saturday with Cormac Ó hEadhra, he explained that the Garda commissioner must be on call 24/7 and available within the Greater Dublin Area, near the Phoenix Park.
Mr Collins also agreed that the rent should have been reviewed and increased, reports RTE.
In a statement today, the Department of Justice said the Policing Authority had advised the Minister in 2017 on the conditions that should apply to a new Garda Commissioner.
The department stated that it had accepted the recommendation that “in the case of a successful external candidate, it may be appropriate to provide for accommodation or an accommodation allowance given the requirement for the Garda Commissioner to reside in Dublin, and in light of the fact that the commissioner is on call 24/7 throughout the year”, reports RTE.
The current Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly was already living in the State at the time of his appointment and the department has confirmed no similar rental arrangement exists for him.
The OPW has also confirmed that €400,000 in refurbishment works were carried out on the property before it was leased to An Garda Síochána, reports RTE.
However, OPW chairman John Conlon emphasised that the renovations were not undertaken specifically in preparation for that lease.
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