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A pay hike of over €23,000 was approved for the new chief executive of the Housing Agency after negotiations between two government departments.

The post was meant to be filled with a starting package of €161,593-a-year, the first point on the Assistant Secretary salary scale of the civil service.

However, the Housing Agency said their preferred candidate had been paid a higher salary than that in his previous role in the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).

They argued that their new CEO Martin Whelan should start at €184,852-per-year, the fourth and final point on the agreed salary scale.

The Department of Public Expenditure said that based on his “substantial knowledge and experience” and his previous salary, they would have “no objection” to the higher package.

Internal records detail how the Housing Agency was left without a CEO when their previous boss Bob Jordan resigned in September last year after a three month notice period.

An email from the Department of Housing said: “Given the short lead in time to Mr. Jordan’s resignation there is an urgency in commencing the recruitment process.

“It may be a case that an interim CEO will be required for a number of months as it is imperative that the work and consequential outputs of the Housing Agency is uninterrupted while the substantive CEO process is ongoing.”

In response, the Department of Public Expenditure said they had no objection to a person being appointed on an acting basis if the need arose.

They said the full-time appointment should be made on the Assistant Secretary level which begins at €161,593 per year and with no perks permitted under government policy.

In November, the Housing Agency said they had found a candidate for the role but submitted a business case to seek a higher starting pay rate.

It said that while Martin Whelan was “enthusiastic about the role,” he had “requested a review of the remuneration package.”

The business case said: “[His] current salary at the NTMA is [redacted] which contrasts with the €163,209 at the first point of the Assistant Secretary grade.

“To address this and to reflect the level of experience and expertise Mr Whelan will bring, the Agency proposes appointing him at the top of the Assistant Secretary scale, €186,701.”

It said a committee led by the chair of the Housing Agency fully supported it and believed it was a “prudent and necessary investment.”

As part of the business case, the Department of Housing said they also agreed that Mr Whelan should start on the higher rate of pay.

There were further discussions with details sought on how many people had applied and how many were considered suitable for the role.

In mid-November, the Department of Housing said they were hoping for a final decision as the matter was now “very urgent and impacting the business of the [Housing] Agency.”

On November 29, an email from the Department of Public Expenditure said they had closely considered the case and the candidate’s previous experience.

“Taking into account his current salary in the NTMA, [we] would have no objection to the Housing Agency negotiating a salary up to the fourth point of the Assistant Secretary scale,” said the message.

Tusla has warned it will blow its budget by nearly €68 million this year as it struggles to deal with huge demand for its services.

The child and family agency warned in an update in May that it had already overspent by €8.9 million but this figure was likely to multiply by the end of the year.

Tusla said its expected overspend for 2025 was €67.8 million, which included €7.6 million for kids in the international protection process and refugees from Ukraine.

In a monthly briefing, the agency said demand for its service was growing especially for residential care, fostering, legal bills, and separated children seeking asylum.

It said they were trying to cut costs by expanding residential provision to replace special emergency arrangements that were a “significant cost driver.”

Tusla said some savings had been made in this area in 2024 through a “strict pricing arrangement” and that this would continue this year.

However, the agency warned that costs remained “unpredictable” due to the inflated cost of placements.

The briefing explained: “As the majority of Tusla’s expenditure is on demand-led arrangements, it is not possible to reduce expenditure materially to meet the budget allocated, without adversely impacting on services for vulnerable children and families.”

It said there was likely to be an overspend of €38.8 million on placements for special care, fostering, and private residential arrangements.

Tusla also detailed the high cost of “out-of-state placements” which involves a small number of children brought to the U.K. when services are not available in Ireland.

The briefing said: “If the agency cannot place children into special care in the existing facilities in 2025, this has the potential to impact on this year’s overspend.”

It said costs for staff travel were also likely to be up by as much as €2.2 million despite on expenses being introduced.

Tusla also detailed a sharp rise in the number of placements for separated children who had applied for international protection in Ireland.

The overspend here was predicted to be around €6.1 million to offer 343 residential placements for vulnerable asylum seekers without parents.

A local authority paid €613,000 for land to secure public access to an idyllic beach saying it would be more expensive to go to court to guarantee a right of way.

In internal discussions, Wicklow County Council said the purchase price was likely to be less than a High Court challenge, which would have no guarantee of success.

The land at Magheramore Beach was owned by Paddy McKillen Jnr’s Oakmount who outbid the local authority for it in 2021 when they paid €700,000.

Mr McKillen Jnr had hoped to develop a €40 million surf school, accommodation, and restaurant there, but the proposal was rejected by An Bord Pleanála.

The 21-acre clifftop site went to auction again this year with a successful bid made by a Chinese investor based in Ireland.

The investor later contacted Wicklow County Council offering them an opportunity to buy the site for €613,000 and “step into the shoes” of the purchaser.

An internal council memo said it would secure permanent public access to the beach and that private ownership could lead to it being blocked off.

It said: “There is a registered private right of way the full length of the access lane to the beach; however, there is no public right of way currently registered for the lane.

“Therefore, a High Court case would have to be taken to secure public access. The legal costs for such a case would come to at least €600,000 with no guarantee that it would be successful.”

The Information Commissioner was forced to use powers under FOI legislation to ensure the Secretary General of the Department of Children and Equality released records.

The move followed a request by Right to Know for copies of a pre-budget submission and other correspondence from the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS).

When the request was made initially, the Department of Children and Equality did not respond.

When we sought internal review, the department did not respond.

Then, when the Information Commissioner (OIC) asked them to issue an “effective position” they still did not bother to respond.

At that stage, the OIC issued a notice under Section 45 of the FOI Act compelling the department to provide the information involved.

The decision said: “Non-responses and delays of the nature experienced in this case serve to undermine the entire FOI process and are unacceptable.

“I should add, however, that the Information Commissioner has since met with the Secretary General and commitments were given to put in place measures to ensure that the Department can, in the future, comply with its obligations under the FOI Act.”

The decision will result in the release of much of the information that was originally sought with some redactions on grounds including commercial sensitivity and security concerns.

P.S. it is now over a year and a half since the request was first made.

The Irish Prison Service pleaded with the Department of Justice to stop scheduling extra court sittings and to consider using cells in garda stations for prisoners.

A message from their director of operations said they had done everything in their power to deal with overcrowding in jails as numbers in custody approached 5,000.

However, the senior official said they had now run out of options and “decisions outside of their control” meant the number of people in prison would continue to rise.

The email was sent last summer as the Irish Prison Service (IPS) struggled with high levels of overcrowding, which have since deteriorated further.

The director of operations – whose name was withheld on security grounds under Freedom of Information laws – said there were “no easy or palatable decisions” left.

He said the UK government had just introduced emergency measures and delayed some court cases due to their own problems with overcrowding.

The message said there were eight steps that needed to be considered or reconsidered as a “matter of urgency” to ease pressure on Irish jails.

This included: “Cancellation of scheduled additional court sittings and a commitment that no further additional sittings will be arranged pending prison capacity being addressed.”

He also called for the decision to appoint or reassign criminal judges to be reconsidered and that cases involving asylum claims be dealt with in “alternative facilities.”

The director of operations said Ireland should also consider delaying court cases and using garda cells to house prisoners.

He added: “[We should] reconsider the proposal to unilaterally increase the rate of remission provided for under current legislation.”

The email said a new policy on bail was needed urgently to ensure people awaiting trial for “non-serious offences” were not sent to jail.

An eighth suggested measure was redacted from the records on the basis it could compromise the security of the prison system.

In a remarkable side note to the decision, the IPS withheld the name of the governor of Mountjoy Prison and their director of operations from the records on security grounds.

The name and photograph of the Mountjoy governor are on their official website; the name and photograph of the director are easily found in public relations photos and other materials from the IPS.

The records below were only released following an appeal to the Information Commissioner.

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan was told to emphasise the “nous and soft skills” of gardaí as controversy flared over the deportation of families and young children from Ireland.

In a briefing on the removal of school-going kids to Nigeria, the minister was told that families could have avoided this outcome and returned voluntarily to their country.

A Q&A prepared for Mr O’Callaghan said he was “very conscious” of questions over whether Irish people would be comfortable with the enforced removal of Irish-born children.

When asked about it, a suggested answer for him said: “It’s one of the reasons that we are very lucky to have people in An Garda Siochana with the nous and the soft skills to manage what can be a difficult human experience for all the people concerned.”

The details were contained in a series of briefings for the Justice Minister on how to tackle tricky questions about expensive deportation charter flights to Nigeria and Georgia.

A Q&A sheet prepared for Mr O’Callaghan said he should also be prepared for questions on whether the three charter flights – which together have cost at least €530,000 – were just for “optics.”

On how to respond, the minister was told: “Forced deportations like these are the last option, not the first.”

If asked about whether it was a good use of scarce garda resources, Mr O’Callaghan was advised to emphasise how such operations needed to be done safely and with “respect for the dignity” of those removed.

The Q&A said: “This may well be a difficult experience for the people being deported, which may include families with young children.”

On value for money issues, the minister was given vague talking points that suggested costs were “relatively comparable” to removals on commercial flights.

One suggested answer said: “No specific cost benefit analysis was carried out for the resumption of the use of charters.”

Almost €520,000 has been spent so far this year hiring private jets to bring the Taoiseach and Tánaiste on trips overseas.

The Department of Defence said they had hired air taxis eleven times this year, including two trips for President Michael D Higgins.

They only provided details on the nine government flights however, with an average cost of almost €58,000 for each of the nine journeys.

The outlay began in January when just over €78,000 was paid for a jet to take Taoiseach Micheal Martin and a five-strong delegation to Katowice in Poland.

That same-day flight included 314 minutes on board, with an average per hour flying cost of around €14,900.

In February, three air taxis were chartered for the Taoiseach, the first one to Brussels early that month costing just under €42,000.

On February 9, another jet took the Taoiseach and six officials first to Brussels, then to Paris at a cost of €43,700.

Another flight in mid-February which travelled from the aerodrome at Baldonnel to Munich, then to Cork and back to Baldonnel proved the most expensive this year.

The final bill for that trip – 289 minutes flying time in all – came to almost €82,000, according to records released under FOI.

There were a further three air taxis for the Taoiseach in March, the first of which to Liverpool and Brussels cost around €67,500.

A trip in mid-March to Brussels with a stop-off in Cork on the way back cost just under €55,000, the Department of Defence said.

A final flight that month to Paris cost nearly €40,500 for the Taoiseach and a delegation of five people.

In April, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste Simon Harris travelled together to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis.

That trip, which included 502 minutes of flight time, cost €71,797.

A second jet was also hired for President Michael D Higgins, but the Department of Defence refused to provide details of how much that cost.

Under Freedom of Information laws, all records relating to the President are exempt from release, a transparency gap that is likely to come into focus again during the forthcoming election.

Jurors serving at major trials said it was a nerve-wracking exercise, with parking a nightmare, and that better coffee should be served.

The Courts Service has been conducting research on the experiences of people who sit on juries to see what they can do to make the experience easier.

Feedback from individual jurors detailed a daunting experience with one saying there was a “melee” outside the main entrance to the courthouse the previous week.

They said it was not an “easy experience” with a “big responsibility” around making decisions that might send somebody to jail.

However, the juror – who was serving in Cork – praised court staff with a smooth assembly process and a “really professional and helpful” judge.

An email said: “The support from jury minders was excellent. [Redacted] was a brilliant jury minder. He was very helpful and the only thing I would say that could be improved was the food at lunch for picky eaters.”

Another described being “confused” when they arrived at court and how “information was given out, but you couldn’t ask questions.”

A summary of their feedback said: “The interviewee said that they overheard others on the panel make comments like they felt like they were the criminals.

“They thought that people were nervous, and nothing was done to help this.”

Another recounted feeling “very nervous” going through security but said once inside, everything was well explained.

They were not picked for the jury in the end but said they would “be happy to be called again” based on their experiences.

One juror described hearing “difficult evidence” and being surprised that a number of people on their panel were from the same area.

They said: “People wanted to know how long the trial would take, good to be upfront about that. I could see some people might have sleepless nights after a trial. It could be traumatic for some.”

Parking was a bugbear for some, who believed it was unfair to expect people to pay for that themselves.

A note of feedback said: “Getting to and from the court is an ordeal. No direct public transport, [and] the cost impacts participation. Lack of parking creates a lot of inconvenience and extra cost to jurors.”

The informal research looked at three stages of the jury experience, before the person came to court, during a trial, and afterwards.

The Information Commissioner has said the names of staff of both the Department of Children and Equality and HIQA should be withheld from records because of a risk to their life and safety from the extreme right.

Under FOI, Right to Know had sought copies of correspondence between the International Protection Accommodation Service and HIQA about inspections of accommodation.

We were seeking to better understand conditions for residents, which are known to be very poor in some centres.

However, the Department of Children and Equality responded to neither our initial request nor our request for internal review.

The case ended up being reviewed by the Information Commissioner (OIC) meaning a decision was made for the first time on the now commonplace practice of exempting staff names under Section 32 of the FOI Act.

In the decision, the OIC said this exemption was not “commonly used” (which was true in the past but no longer is).

They said: “I am generally satisfied that serious incidents have occurred and that such incidents have raised concerns for the Department in respect of the release of staff information.

“It seems to me that valid concerns currently exist in respect of the behaviour of a cohort of individuals strongly opposed to the State’s approach to international protection applicants and the manner in which they are accommodated.”

The OIC said they were satisfied that the release of staff names – normally an obligation under the FOI Act – now “could endanger [their] life and safety.”

You can read the full decision below.

The DAA has been told it must reconsider its refusal to release a database of environmental expenditure to Right to Know.

Under the Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) Regulations, we had sought a record of purchase orders of greater than €20,000 for a single three month period last year.

The DAA initially accepted that some of the information was environmental but argued that the request was manifestly unreasonable.

They said there were 350 transactions involved, each of which would have to be examined to see if it was environmental and whether it were exempt from release.

The DAA said each of these individual checks would take thirty minutes but provided no further detail on how that figure was calculated.

Overall, they said it would take 212 hours – or 26.5 working days – to check just 350 entries.

They also said some of the information was commercially sensitive and that release of other transaction data could adversely affect public security by identifying contractors, particularly around cybersecurity.

The DAA later questioned whether the information was environmental at all, even though the Commissioner for Environmental Information had found it was in a similar Right to Know case.

The airport authority has now been told it must carry out a new internal review, providing more detail on why certain transactions are exempt from release, and a more thorough estimate of how long it would actually take to check the data.

Separately, Right to Know has lost a related case for information from Bord na Móna, which you can read here.

However, that was for a much longer period of time covering 2019 to 2022, which the CEI eventually decided was manifestly unreasonable.

The DAA request is much more targeted and covers just Quarter 3 of 2024.

As a footnote, such lists of purchase orders of greater than €20,000 are published as a matter of routine by all public bodies in the state.