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Nearly 120 gardaí travelled on a charter flight to Georgia that cost almost €190,000 and carried just 52 deportees.

Just one of the passengers had a long history of criminality, while one other had committed a theft offence and two had minor traffic convictions.

Briefings for Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan detail how thirty-five men, ten women, two girls, and five boys were on board the flight in November.

He was told that four family groups had been removed and that the 52 deportees had an average time in the State of two years and eight months.

The family groups included three mothers travelling alone, two of whom had two children and one who had three.

The briefing on ‘Operation Trench’ said that 119 members of An Garda were on board the flight as well as a translator, a human rights monitor, a doctor, and a paramedic.

A Q&A sheet prepared for Mr O’Callaghan said that 41 of the 52 on board were held in custody in the heavily overcrowded Irish prison system prior to departure.

It said that individuals could be held for up to eight weeks to ensure a deportation could be carried out successfully.

The briefing document said: “Any children removed were part of family groups and were not detained.”

The Q&A said sometimes lengthy periods of detention were required because otherwise “people may abscond.”

A suggested answer for the minister said: “The legislation provides that people can be held for up to 56 days … but it is usually significantly less than that and we would seek to minimise it.”

The briefing document also revealed that some of those on board had “open applications” for revocation of their removal order.

If asked about that, Mr O’Callaghan was advised to say that an application of that type “does not suspend deportation.”

The Q&A included suggested answers for what to say if asked about the presence of young children on the flight.

It said it could be emphasised that all were travelling with a parent and that the human rights monitor would keep a close watch.

The briefing said: “These families will have been encouraged to take the option of voluntary return; that would have both avoided this outcome and given them significant support in the form of a reintegration grant.”

On whether it was a “good use” of the time of nearly 120 gardaí, the minister was told deportations were a “difficult experience” for those involved.

One suggested answer said: “These operations require highly skilled and trained people to ensure the safety of everyone on the flight.”

The briefing claimed the cost of charter flights was generally comparable to removal operations on commercial flights.

However, it said there had never been a specific cost-benefit analysis for the flights.

The National Gallery warned the OPW that diesel fumes from Leinster House’s emergency generator were billowing into its building, leading to health and safety complaints from staff.

The monthly generator tests are needed to make sure the parliament’s back-up electricity supply is fully functioning.

However, the tests have alarmed the gallery which has been forced to shut rooms filled with valuable artworks and close off public access.

Records released under FOI reveal multiple occasions where fumes entered the National Gallery’s (NGI) historic wings.

In emails, the NGI also told the OPW that staff were worried there was a health hazard from the generator testing.

In June, testing of the generator led to the closure of galleries to the public in the landmark Dublin building.

An email from the NGI’s head of operations to the OPW said: “It has not happened for some time to my knowledge, and I had thought it had been resolved.

“I understand you are working on some additional measures, but can any generator testing be undertaken outside of gallery hours until such time as the matter is remedied?”

Another message said the diesel fumes had accumulated in several rooms including the famous Shaw Room and multiple other exhibition spaces.

The email read: “Leinster House was informed, and they instructed the OPW to turn the generator off.

“The rooms were re-opened at 10.30am when the fumes had dissipated. This problem has not gone away yet.”

The NGI repeatedly asked the OPW if the testing could be carried out much earlier in the day to avoid any disruption for the public or staff.

An email said: “This has led to a number of health and safety complaints from staff at the Gallery.

“You will appreciate that addressing a H&S [health and safety] matter of this nature is very important to the gallery and as one possible solution, we are asking if generator testing can be conducted during gallery out of hours periods.”

The problematic testing had also reared its head in the summer of 2024 when a staff member took a video showing fumes rising through a grid and up towards air vents.

Several incident reports were also logged with one saying: “Today we closed rooms 14 to 20 because of a strong smell of diesel fumes from a generator in Leinster House.”

Another said: “Closed the Dargan wing to the public for one hour this morning. Diesel generator in Leinster House active causing diesel fumes to accumulate.”

Asked about the correspondence and any possible risk to staff or their art collection, the National Gallery said they had no comment to make.

There were more than three times as many gardaí as deportees on a half-full flight to Pakistan even though it included just one person with a serious criminal conviction.

Internal notes from the Department of Justice show that the deportation operation in September cost €474,000 and involved only 24 failed asylum seekers.

Three of the persons on board had “minor offences” on their record but were never sent to jail while one had a serious criminal conviction from the UK.

The notes show that 79 members of An Garda were on board, an average of 3.3 per deportee as well as a doctor, a paramedic, a translator, and a human rights monitor.

The average bill for each deportee was around €20,000, as the department said in a statement that such operations were “costly and complex to enforce.”

They said charter flights increased the options and capacity available to gardaí and that staffing arrangements were a policing matter.

A statement said: “[The Garda National Immigration Bureau] conducts a risk assessment for the safety of those travelling. This informs the number of personnel involved.”

The department said the cost of what they called ‘Operation Toboggan’ had been €473,000 with a further €1,120 spent on catering costs.

They were not able to provide details of staffing or overtime costs incurred by An Garda in sending 79 officers on the flight to Islamabad.

An internal note said the Airbus A330 used had 256 seats available but travelled less than half full on the seven-and-a-half-hour flight to Pakistan.

The note said there were no family groups involved and that the 24 deportees ranged from 23 to 66 years in age.

Their average time in the State was nine years and three months with 10 living in IPAS centres and 14 in private accommodation.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland said they were hamstrung by year-on-year budget allocations, conflicting government policy, and delays from judicial review.

In a presentation to a high-powered infrastructure taskforce, Transport Infrastructure Ireland said constantly changing government policy was like working with “moving goalposts.”

It said there was a lack of clear priorities and that annual funding instead of multi-annual budgets led to a “thin pipeline” of projects.

TII said policy on climate action and spatial planning was changing faster than the planning process leading to considerable risks.

It said some projects could be given planning permission but that government policy would change in the meantime and leave them “open to judicial review.”

The presentation was given to the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce in June by TII’s chief executive Peter Walsh.

It said population growth in Ireland had left services and the transport network under severe pressure and investment was needed.

Chronic congestion problems in cities like Cork, Galway, and Waterford were getting worse and becoming more costly to productivity.

It said government needed to set out much clearer national priorities and that state agencies had to work more closely together.

TII said multi-annual funding would give confidence to industry and that broader infrastructure plans were something that could be looked at.

It said the Adare Bypass had been a good recent example of government bodies working together to get a project moving quickly.

On the planning system, TII said there was “no economic risk” involved for people that took a judicial review.

The presentation said it could add delays of between one and four years and that planning for infrastructure was taking up to nine years, and sometimes even longer.

TII also highlighted government approval processes which required several lengthy technical reviews by multiple agencies.

It said this led to the reopening of “settled questions” causing delays while guidance on how to appraise projects kept changing.

The slideshow said the various review layers should be “collapsed” and the focus should be on mega-projects worth half a billion euro or more.

TII lamented resourcing issues and said “stop-start project delivery” was making it difficult to retain resources, expertise and capacity.

The presentation said local authorities were overstretched, with eroded skills and facing recruitment barriers.

Contractors sometimes favoured work in other countries leading to “leakage,” as it was essential for them to have reasonable certainty or predictability on available work.

It added: “Public confidence in schemes [is] impacted.”

The Data Protection Commission sought a massive €10 million hike in its budget as it looked to combat the “unfair narrative” that it was soft on Big Tech.

In a pre-budget submission, the DPC said it was looking to increase annual spending to €39.8 million in 2026, a year-on-year increase of more than a third.

This would include an extra €8 million for pay and €2.37 million for non-pay, according to records released under FOI.

In a letter to the Department of Justice, the DPC said it was fully aware of the need to balance diverse funding needs across the justice sector.

However, it said its job of upholding people’s fundamental right to data protection was a “national priority.”

A submission said the DPC was being asked to act as lead authority for global technology companies that were worth billions of euro while spending just a tiny fraction of their budgets.

It said the commission was under intense scrutiny from EU member states and MEPs about its ability to lead data protection regulation for Big Tech.

One piece of correspondence stated: “The extremely challenging environment and (unfair) narrative of recent years from which we are now emerging needs to be recalled in this context.

“Continuing to build the DPC’s reputation internationally and, thereby confidence in Ireland’s regulatory environment, requires continuing investment.”

The Data Protection Commission also detailed how the European Commission had 270 staff working on just the Digital Services Act with a supporting budget of €55 million.

By contrast, the DPC’s entire workforce of 280 operated with annual spending of €29.4 million.

The commission said incoming EU laws on AI, political advertising, and harmonising regulations around complaints were going to massively increase its workload.

The pre-budget submission said: “The DPC will need to expand all its expert teams to meet this increased obligation, as well as ensuring enough senior staff are recruited.”

In the July submission, its two commissioners – Dr Des Hogan and Dale Sunderland – said the work of the agency added huge value to the economy.

They explained how the DPC had imposed fines exceeding €4 billion since the application of GDPR.

The correspondence said the commission would be able to grow aggressively if funded and that 78 new people would be hired this year.

It said previous underspends were historic and that it was instructed to pause recruitment for a four-to-six-week period by the Department of Public Expenditure.

A note said: “It was well within DPC’s power to recruit more staff this year had we not been curtailed by this, which was outside of our control.”

In a response in September, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said his department was “very cognisant” of the importance of the DPC as one of the largest data protection authorities in Europe.

The minister said he had taken note of the concerns raised and of the “increased workload” expected from significant new and amended EU legislation.

However, his letter added: “You will be aware of the wider budgetary pressures and the current uncertainty due to global circumstances.

“Any budgetary decisions have to be made with this situation in mind, and I am committed to providing the DPC with the resources it needs, subject to budgetary considerations.”

In the Budget 2026 announcement, the Department of Justice promised a further 10 percent increase to the budget of the commission with an extra €3 million to support increased staffing.

The government was warned it could face full-scale revolt from farmers over policy on climate change.

A strategic review commissioned by the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment said “grassroots resistance” had emerged in other countries and rapidly overturned green initiatives.

It said there was a “sustained and growing distrust” of climate policy in the Irish agriculture sector and rural communities.

Politicians in farming constituencies were already facing regular challenges from voters and the possibility of well-organised movements against environmental initiatives was real.

The unpublished paper said: “In my view, this resistance needs to be taken seriously as a major potential threat to climate policy.”

It said farmers needed to be regarded as “custodians of the land” and the use of the word ‘rewetting’ reconsidered because it suggested ‘flooding.’

The review found a range of other issues around national policy including that there was little trust in government communication.

It said the government’s messaging was “often generic and dry” and there was a “silo mentality” among public bodies.

Other findings included that Ireland’s delays on implementation of its net-zero plans were causing “tension” with EU partners and the risk of large penalties.

The report, written by international climate communications expert George Marshall, said Ireland actually had a strong foundation with a “generally high level of public concern” about changing climate.

It said we were fortunate there was so far “very little of the organised ideological denial” found elsewhere in Europe and other English-speaking countries.

However, it said the processes for making climate decisions were “complex and inefficient” spanning multiple government departments.

It said stated ambitions in the Climate Action Plan required a “far higher rate of progress and activity.”

The review found that programmes that actually reach the public, especially hard-to-reach groups, were limited.

“Without strategic targets or timeline, there is inadequate attention to scale or scalability,” the author wrote.

He said the government lacked a “coherent strategy” for public engagement and queried whether existing programmes offered value for money.

The report said apathy was a particular problem with around one in five Irish people believing nothing they did on climate could make a difference in the bigger picture.

It said the government needed to take more risks in leadership and be decisive in recognising the climate crisis as an emergency.

The author said it was particularly important that new voices emerged to communicate the threats and opportunities.

It said politicians were “rarely trusted outside their own supporter base,” so a more grassroots approach was needed.

The report said: “It is essential to build trust and support through the mobilisation of new voices and communicators, especially for addressing concerns and building constructive dialogue with farmers and rural communities.

“As noted above, there are major potential risks from not prioritising this audience.”

The review said that Ireland’s experience during the financial crash and the COVID-19 pandemic showed people would “work together and make personal sacrifices.”

“[This happens] if they feel that there is a social norm behind taking action, and that they are contributing to a shared identity,” it said.

It said people needed to see themselves as “climate citizens” and how “not acting was not an option.”

Some of the suggestions included drawing on Irish culture, highlighting future impact on historic landscapes, species, and monuments, or adopting Irish-language words for things like ‘sustainable’, ‘green’, and ‘climate change’.

Government messaging over carbon taxes was also criticised in the report, with the author saying global research showed support depended on knowing where the money went.

It said in California, all recipients of funding displayed a logo while in Ireland there was “little understanding” about how the cash was spent.

The government was also warned about ‘tone,’ with people in the farming community especially feeling “judged and blamed.”

It said a more moderated honest and exploratory voice was needed and that some existing initiatives were weak.

The phrase ‘net zero’ was poorly understood while the use of ‘we are all in this together’ weakened after the pandemic.

It also said focus groups found that the use of ‘we’ created skepticism and it was better to actually say who was doing what.

The chair of An Post said it was “wholly unfair” that the company’s CEO was only being paid €250,000 a year while other semi-state bosses were having their wages hiked.

In discussions with government, chairman Kieran Mulvey said the package for An Post’s boss had been in place since 2019 without any increase.

He said there had been “no change to reflect market conditions, competitor activity, acknowledgement of performance history, experience and length of time in the post.”

Mr Mulvey said the package for outgoing CEO David McRedmond included a €250,000 per year salary with a company car and a 25 percent private pension plan.

However, he told Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers these wages had already been exceeded at other commercial semi-states where €300,000-a-year salaries were being awarded.

He said it was “wholly unfair” that an incumbent CEO would be left behind while others were given better deals.

Mr Mulvey also said An Post was about to launch a competition for a new chief executive and the existing salary was unlikely to be sufficient.

His letter, sent in March, said: “It is highly unlikely that we will be able to attract the calibre of candidate we need to succeed the current CEO on this package.”

He said that David McRedmond had been “extremely patient” while successive chairs of An Post had sought a fairer reward for his services.

In the letter, Mr Mulvey put forward a new suggested salary for the post; however, the figure has been redacted from FOI records.

Explaining the figure, he wrote: “Whilst this is still not sufficient in my opinion it does show that the department recognises the inequity that now exists and also supports the chair and board of An Post to be able to attract the calibre we need to succeed the current CEO.”

In a response in April, Environment Minister Darragh O’Brien said it would not “be appropriate to consider your request at this time.”

Mr O’Brien said there was an independent review underway – since completed – into pay rates for chief executives in the commercial semi-state sector.

Since the correspondence was exchanged, An Post boss David McRedmond announced he was to step down from his role.

Early this month, the postal service advertised for a new CEO; however, no salary for the role was specified.

Asked about the records, the Department of Culture, Communications, and Sport – which now has responsibility for An Post – said the remuneration “has not yet been confirmed.”

A spokesman said: “The contract for the CEO position [is] subject to the approval of the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport and the Minister for Public Expenditure.”

He said pay for top managers in commercial semi-states remains under review as part of an ongoing process.

The spokesman added: “The department welcomes that An Post has leveraged its operations to develop its parcel and ecommerce delivery and hopes to see the benefits of this for the company, network, and its consumers.

“The department recognises the work of the current CEO in driving transformation in the business while managing the global headwinds mentioned above and hopes the transformative change can continue into the next CEO’s term.”

A briefing for the Taoiseach ahead of a “fireside chat” with Stripe warned the company’s co-founder billionaire John Collison was likely to be critical of Ireland’s bureaucracy and over-regulation.

It said Mr Collison was on record condemning “red tape” and how it was inhibiting delivery of housing, energy infrastructure, and transport.

The briefing said the Stripe billionaire was also likely to raise concerns about EU regulation, especially difficulties in accessing funding, adoption of AI, and restrictions from data protection law.

The document was prepared ahead of the opening of new Stripe offices early last month in Dublin.

In advance, Taoiseach Micheál Martin was given a series of “high-level messages” on the government’s deep commitment to improving Ireland’s competitiveness.

A page of suggested speaking points said the coalition was “investing in innovation” and pushing for “high quality digital services.”

It said: “The government is taking action to ensure that we have the right infrastructure in place and an adequate pipeline of development.

“We are also looking across legislation and regulations to ensure they are proportionate and fit for purpose.”

The briefing said the government was investing in critical infrastructure and that a new digital strategy was due in the coming months.

It explained Ireland needed to be “more open to new technologies and to innovation” and increase investment so there could be more “global champions” like Stripe.

The speaking notes added: “First and foremost, we must look inward and in Ireland we are taking a whole-of-government approach to domestic drivers of competitiveness – looking at: industrial policy, reducing the cost and regulatory burden on business, investing in infrastructure, digital regulation and reform and energy reform.”

The briefing said it was critical that Ireland and the EU “get the balance right” between innovation and regulation.

It said Ireland would be a “strong advocate in Europe for a balanced approach to digital regulation” with like-minded member states.

The Taoiseach’s briefing ran to more than twenty-five pages for the pre-arranged one-on-one “fireside chat” between him and John Collison.

Micheál Martin’s personal staff had earlier sought clarity on what topics would be discussed and who would MC the event.

Emails from Stripe said there would be no moderator and they would be “happy to agree on any topics the Taoiseach would like to touch upon.”

The Information Commissioner (OIC) has upheld RTÉ’s refusal to release detailed information of how much high-profile staff and contractors were paid for external ‘nixer’ activities.

The OIC decided that the figures involved were personal information and that the right of privacy outweighed the public interest in knowing how much the individuals were paid.

Under FOI, Right to Know had sought a full copy of RTÉ’s Register of External Activities for Q2 of 2024, which is only published in a redacted form.

RTÉ withheld payment bands, a small number of activity descriptions and several additional notes saying they were exempt from release.

In its decision, the OIC said the information clearly related to the “financial affairs” of identifiable individuals.

In the public interest test, their senior investigator said there was no “cogent, fact-based reason” to breach the privacy rights of staffs and contractors.

He said it was not a relevant consideration that RTÉ had itself planned to publish such information until it was instructed not to do so by the Data Protection Commission.

In a data protection impact assessment prepared internally by RTÉ, the broadcaster had argued there was a high public interest in publication of the data following a series of spending controversies at Montrose.

However, the OIC said the request could only be considered in terms of FOI.

The senior investigator concluded: “The activities in question are external to the activities undertaken by such individuals in the performance of their roles and are not renumerated from public funds provided to RTÉ.

“The [FOI] Act is concerned with enhancing the transparency of public bodies, not individuals. In my view, disclosure of the fee bands would disclose nothing of significance about RTÉ’s activities.”

An audit of garda credit cards found receipts were missing for over €900 worth of spending, an incomplete policy that hadn’t been updated since 2018, and little paperwork on whether spending was necessary.

External auditors looked at a sample of cards in use by An Garda saying that there was no clarity on what was and wasn’t allowed and, in some cases, no invoices or receipts to back up expenditure.

The report by Forvis Mazars said: “Invoice and/or receipt has not been provided for nine out of forty-two sampled transactions. The total value of missing invoices is €902.33.

“The policy is vague in terms of allowable expenses – for that reason we can’t confirm if the expenditures tested are in line with the policy and for reasonable/legitimate business purposes.”

The auditors also looked at nine monthly reconciliations for cards but could find no evidence that spending was certified as “incurred in an official capacity.”

Their report said there was no proof all relevant receipts were attached by cardholders to the credit card statements or whether explanations had been provided for missing receipts.

One reconciliation was dated October 2022 but when the auditors examined it, they found it related to the following year.

The report said: “As part of the audit we reviewed the policy and found it is not clear from the policy what expenditure is considered official use.

“Even though the policy states … approval is required for all expenditure, it does not specify who the approval should be obtained from and how to treat the expenditure where no approval was obtained.”

Other findings included a lack of documentation for new card set-up and no documented thresholds for card limits.

As part of the review, Forvis Mazars looked as well at the official policy on credit cards, which dated from 2018 and “does not appear to be complete.”

“The document including [the] title is only four pages long. We were informed that the complete document was not available,” the audit said.

Forvis Mazars said there was nothing in the policy about the number of credit cards, lost or stolen cards, suspected fraud, or cancellation procedures.

The audit of 2023 expenditure said there was no clarity on what cards could be used for and that it wasn’t even clear that “personal expenditure” was prohibited.

It said: “The policy does not specify the process for ensuring that transactions are reviewed to ensure that personal expenditure (including gratuities) is returned to An Garda Síochána.”

Overall, the report gave limited assurance saying that there was an inadequate or ineffective system of governance including one high priority finding that could result in “substantial error, loss, fraud, or damage to reputation.”

A spokesman said: “Of the six recommendations, the recommendations concerning monthly reconciliations and collation of receipts have been fully implemented.

“The remaining four recommendations are being progressed in line [with] An Garda Síochána internal governance processes and timelines and are expected to be fully addressed in the coming quarter.”