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Heritage sites across Ireland are already being damaged by extreme weather linked to climate change, with castles, forts and national parks among those most at risk.

A nationwide project to identify the historic landmarks most under threat could cost up to €2.3 million, according to internal records from the Heritage Council.

The documents warn that Ireland’s built, natural and cultural heritage is facing “accelerating climate pressures” from coastal erosion, flooding, and severe weather.

A briefing paper said Wild Nephin National Park in Mayo – which suffered a serious wildfire last year – will face a growing risk because of “rising temperatures and drier summers.”

It said: “A single large fire event can devastate peat soil, destroy sensitive flora and fauna, and leave landscapes susceptible to erosion.”

The Heritage Council report said Coolbanagher Castle in Laois had “withstood centuries of Irish weather.”

However, Storm Darwin in February 2014 caused a partial collapse requiring demolition of unstable sections soon after.

The paper also cited Dún Beag Promontory Fort in Kerry as very “susceptible to coastal erosion and higher-intensity storm surges.”

It said recent storms had already accelerated cliff-face collapses and projections for continued sea-level rise carried “increased peril.”

“Losing such monuments erodes the archaeological record that underpins Ireland’s ancient history,” the briefing said.

It recommended a nationwide survey of heritage assets to map which ones were most at risk from climate change.

The estimate for the project was €2.3 million over three years, including capital costs, staffing, consultancy, and contingency.

It suggested a core team be set up that would carry out field surveys and on-site inspections.

Also proposed were workshops, outreach materials, and consultations to make the public aware of the risks facing heritage sites.

As an initial step, the Heritage Council said it might be worth carrying out a pilot project, potentially in a “coastal county.”

The briefing said the project could be challenging as heritage information was “often incomplete or outdated.”

It said uncertain climate projections might also prove problematic in determining which specific sites were most in danger.

The paper added that getting stakeholders on board could be complex as private landowners might worry about the legal or financial implications of being designated “at risk.”

It said: “Clear communication of the possible benefits, including grant funding and professional advice, is intended to mitigate such concerns and encourage collaborative action.”

The briefing also said financing and staffing could pose further difficulties, but that funding might be available through national or EU grants.

It added, however, that having a single authoritative inventory of heritage at risk would be valuable so it could be addressed as “one coherent challenge.”

The paper said: “A consolidated catalogue of vulnerable sites will be more persuasive than generic statements on climate risk.”

A spokesman said: “The Heritage Council continues to work with colleagues across government to further refine the Climate Heritage at Risk initiative and align it with the work already underway across relevant government departments.

“This is an important piece of work, and we are committed to working collaboratively to deliver the best possible solution.”

https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/28041036-heritage-council-climate/?embed=1

The Revenue Commissioners wrote off more than €270 million in unpaid taxes last year, a sharp climb of more than 70 percent on 2024 figures.

The surge in write-offs was driven mainly by businesses going bust and fallout from tax ‘warehousing’ during COVID-19.

Revenue said many of the debts related to companies that failed or went into liquidation during the pandemic.

It said the sharp rise in write-offs last year was primarily down to timing, rather than policy change in how such debts are handled.

Data released under FOI shows that €271.5 million in tax was subject to what Revenue termed a “write-out” process last year.

It said that when taxes were not “currently collectible,” processes were in place to suspend collection where recovery was not feasible.

However, some money is ultimately written off when it is clear that collection cannot be revisited, particularly in insolvency situations.

For 2024, the amount of tax debt written off was €158.9 million, though Revenue declined to provide detail on how many individual cases there were for either year.

Asked why the figure had risen so much in 2025, the Revenue Commissioners said there was an increase in both the number of taxpayers involved and the amount of money owed.

It said the majority related to firms in the Tax Debt Warehouse – especially those described as “non-engagers” and connected companies.

There were also a “number of larger and more complex liquidations” that concluded last year following assessments.

An information note said: “Overall, the increase is mostly a function of case mix and timing, not a systemic shift in uncollectible debt or a change of policy.”

Revenue said it could not provide details that would identify specific taxpayers but that the €271.5 million written off in 2025 predominantly related to insolvent businesses.

It added: “In such circumstances, write outs most commonly arise in respect of business taxes such as VAT and employer payroll remittances (e.g. PAYE/USC) and in some cases corporation tax.”

Revenue said other tax debts arose in restructuring processes such as examinership, personal insolvency, bankruptcy, and receivership.

It said the €430 million in write-offs over the past two years was in cases where “no further recovery is possible in law.”

The information note said they expected the sharp increase in 2025 to “moderate over time as recoveries from insolvency processes are realised and written back.”

Ninety-five citizens of the European Union have had their right of residence in Ireland stripped over the past three years for crimes including human trafficking, tax evasion, and sexual assault.

There was also a significant uptick in the number of people whose right of residence was taken away last year.

In 2023, there were 21 cases, followed by 18 in 2024. However, that number more than trebled to 56 last year, according to data obtained under FOI.

The figures show that nearly half of all those told they could no longer remain in the State were from Romania.

The Department of Justice said it could not provide a full breakdown of crimes committed by those involved.

However, there were at least 12 cases of assault causing harm, 33 of theft and burglary, and 6 cases involving drug possession.

The department said other offenders included individuals convicted of possession or distribution of child pornography, sexual assault or rape, and production of a weapon during a fight.

Of the 21 people who had their right of residence taken away in 2023, there were 6 from each of Lithuania, Poland, and Romania.

From the 18 EU citizens barred from the country in 2024, 8 of them were Romanian.

The Department of Justice said that of the 56 people told they were no longer welcome in Ireland last year, 31 were from Romania.

It said it would not provide details of nationality in cases where the number of people from a specific country was under five.

An official said this policy was in place to ensure no individuals could be identified and that it was not in the public interest.

The department also said it would not provide a gender breakdown of those involved, but it is understood that the overwhelming majority were male.

All of those involved have already been removed from the State with 21 deported in 2023 and 18 in 2024.

Last year, however, 7 people voluntarily left Ireland while 49 were “enforced removals” including 23 on special charter flights.

The State has organised multiple large-scale deportations using hired aircraft, including a flight to Romania last October.

Costs for that one-way trip came to more than €73,000 excluding costs for escorting gardaí to fly back with commercial airlines.

The figures on EU removals were only released following a review under Freedom of Information laws after the department failed to respond to the initial request.

The HSE has spent almost €33 million over the past three years sending a small number of Irish people abroad for psychiatric care.

The annual cost per patient has been in the region of €1.26 million, according to data released under FOI.

Yearly spending has also surged in recent years, rising from €4.4 million in 2022 to €12.3 million the following year.

A further €10.6 million was spent by the HSE on psychiatric care abroad in 2024 and €9.98 million last year.

Over the past eleven years, payments to providers of specialised mental health treatment have totalled €45 million.

The figures show, however, that the number of patients sent abroad each year has remained in single digits, despite the dramatic rise in spending.

Last year, the cost per patient for the eight individuals treated was €1.25 million, according to the figures.

For 2024, the average bill for the nine people cared for overseas was slightly lower at €1.18 million.

However, in 2023, the highest figure of all was recorded when the cost per patient worked out at a staggering €1.36 million.

All of the patients were treated at facilities in the United Kingdom, but the HSE said it would not provide a breakdown by hospital or city.

They also said it would not be possible to provide the number of patients treated in some years because of the risk of identification.

The Health Service Executive said patients could be sent overseas for a number of reasons, for example if specialist mental health treatment is required but is unavailable in Ireland.

In the period between 2015 and 2024, 21 referrals were made from HSE Mental Health Services and 16 from acute hospitals.

A statement said: “The HSE Treatment abroad scheme covers the cost of planned treatment in another country in the European Union European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or Switzerland.

“If the treatment needed is publicly available in Ireland, it can be accessed through the: Northern Ireland Planned Healthcare Scheme (NIPHS) or Cross Border Directive Scheme.”

More than €110,000 in taxpayer funds went down the drain after a courthouse water leak went undetected for over two years.

An internal audit said the Courts Service had faced excess water charges of nearly €2,900 per month, although the OPW has since carried out repairs.

The Courts Service said the sky-high costs were caused by “a significant unseen water leak” and “pipe defects” in a very old building with antiquated plumbing.

Bills for water at the Chancery Street Courthouse in Dublin – which also houses a childcare court office – shot up from €479 a month to €2,894.

The report said: “The receipt of the November 2023 invoice for €66,202 … appears to have been the first indication that there was a potential problem with the water supply.

“Subsequent bills received also indicated unusually high water usage throughout 2024.”

The audit also detailed how the excess water charges may have been missed because they were “miscoded” as fuel oil.

“[This] may partially explain why the increase in water charges was not queried as part of expenditure reviews and analysis,” it said.

A spokesman said that following repairs, water charges for the first half of 2025 had returned to normal levels.

He said: “Additionally, steps have been taken to strengthen internal monitoring, coding accuracy, and oversight of utility billing so that any anomalies can be detected and escalated at an earlier stage.”

The report also detailed how the Courts Service was owed more than €70,000 in utility bills from the Bar Council, the representative body for barristers, which they had failed to pursue for over two years.

The audit said: “While the Bar Council are aware of arrears in recoupment, delays in recouping sums due may make it increasingly difficult to recover sums especially when the sums due are large.”

Other findings from the report included more than €1.15 million spent on expired contracts for electricity and heating fuels.

That left some offices facing “significantly higher tariff rates” when they were supposed to have switched over to a new provider.

More than 100 complaints made to the Data Protection Commission (DPC) remain unresolved more than five years after they were lodged.

The DPC said there were 111 cases dating from May 2018 to 2020 that have still not been finalised.

There were a further 102 complaints received in 2021 that are still open, according to data released under FOI.

Another 155 cases from 2022 are still unresolved, while 248 complaints from 2023 are still considered open.

Figures from the DPC also show a sharp rise in the number of complaints lodged last year.

They said a total of 3,681 complaints were received in 2025, up nearly a quarter on the 2,986 cases from 2024.

In 2022 and 2023, complaint numbers remained relatively static with 2,857 and 2,940 lodged, respectively.

There were a further 3,583 cases recorded in 2021 and 13,817 from mid-2018 through 2020.

Since May 2018, the DPC said it had received almost 30,000 complaints, of which around 3,900 were “not yet concluded.”

In an information note, the commission said that the vast majority of cases from before last summer had been concluded.

The DPC said: “Approximately 2.5 per cent of complaints received prior to 2024 remain open.

“These in the most part consist of cases awaiting the conclusion of a DPC inquiry, the outcome of related litigation, or some other factor such as the complexity of the issues being examined.”

The DPC also acknowledged the uptick in the number of complaints filed last year and said the final figure may yet rise further.

“Some cases received … in the latter half of 2025 are undergoing initial assessment and may subsequently be categorised as complaints,” the note said.

“It should be noted that the figures provided only relate to cases received by the DPC that have been assessed and accepted as complaints.”

Gardaí were paid more than €189 million in overtime last year with some members cashing in to the tune of more than €50,000 each.

One inspector was able to earn an extra €65,008 on top of their ordinary salary, according to records released under FOI.

At least twenty officers earned more than €53,500 in overtime pay during 2025, An Garda Síochána said.

The overall overtime bill was €189.01 million – the equivalent of around €13,000 per member of the force, based on the latest figures for garda strength.

A further €4.5 million was paid to staff members of An Garda Síochána, of whom there are currently around 3,500.

The average overtime payment per head for staff was far lower than the garda equivalent at just under €1,300.

An Garda Síochána said the €193.5 million total bill should be considered as a draft figure until their accounts were examined by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

A list of the top twenty overtime earning gardaí showed they shared a combined pot of around €1.1 million.

Three officers earned more than €60,000 on top of their normal wage, with payments ranging from €60,277 to €65,008.

A further ten gardaí took home between €55,000 and €60,000 in overtime, according to the data.

Rounding out the top twenty were seven officers who earned between €53,531 and €54,780 in additional pay.

More than €17 million worth of welfare overpayments to people no longer living in Ireland were uncovered over the past two years, with around €8.2 million recouped during the same period.

The Department of Social Protection said some of the money recovered could include overpayments from other years and that efforts to claw back the money continued on an ongoing basis.

The level of overpayment rose by more than a third last year when €10.2 million in benefits to individuals “absent from the state” were flagged.

That compared to €7.4 million in payments made to nearly 2,800 people who were not resident in Ireland during 2024.

Figures from the Department of Social Protection show that child benefit payments accounted for the biggest proportion of the money.

Last year, more than €3.4 million was wrongly paid out in children’s allowance to 1,867 parents, according to data released under FOI.

That was up markedly from 2024 when there was €2.5 million in child benefit payments to individuals absent from the State.

The scale of individual overpayments ranged in size from just a few hundred euro to five-figure sums.

Last year, 194 people who were no longer in the State were found to have claimed more than €2.15 million in disability allowance.

That worked out an average overpayment of just over €11,000.

A further €1.7 million was incorrectly paid out through the “one parent family payment” to 235 different PPS holders.

The per-person amount was around €7,300, according to the figures released.

Almost €1.15 million was overpaid under the jobseeker’s allowance to 484 people while 95 individuals received a combined €794,000 in incorrect non-contributory state pension payments.

Other sums included €115,500 for respite care and €43,650 in pandemic unemployment welfare entitlements.

There was also one payment of €1,817 for “farm assist” and six payments totalling €9,380 in blind person’s pensions.

Of the almost €4.4 million in welfare paid to people outside the state that was recouped in 2025, more than half related to child benefit.

Altogether, sums totalling €2.34 million were recovered in nearly 17,000 children’s allowance cases found by the department.

Around €470,000 was recovered under the disability allowance scheme and €492,000 from jobseeker allowance payments.

The government extended a mortgage tax break despite officials advising it had no clear policy rationale and that it risked pushing up house prices.

A pre-budget submission warned continuing the scheme could discourage banks from lowering interest rates and simply boost their profitability.

Despite the advice, then-Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe approved a two-year extension of mortgage interest tax relief in last year’s budget.

The temporary relief had originally been introduced on a one-year basis to help homeowners hit by successive interest rate rises.

However, in advance of last year’s budget, Department of Finance officials recommended it not be extended.

It said: “As was outlined by officials in advance of its introduction, and its further extension, there is no clear policy rationale to support this relief.

“The available research, including that produced by the [Central Bank] and the OECD, have highlighted the negative implications of both the introduction of such a relief, and its extension beyond one year.”

A memo from the Central Bank said it represented a “poor use of taxpayer funds” and could not be targeted to those who needed it most.

It warned that in many cases those benefiting from the relief were not “under [financial] stress” and were generally in higher income groups.

Officials warned as well that a further extension could be “taken as a signal to its long-term future” just as other cost-of-living measures were phased out.

Cannabis grow houses were illegally hooked up to electricity supplies twenty-four times over the past two years at a cost of at least half a million euro.

Brazen criminals tapped into ESB Networks to cultivate drugs 18 times in 2024, burning through an estimated 1.8 million kilowatt hours of energy.

Based on typical electricity prices of around 30 cent per unit, that level of consumption would have cost a home owner in the region of €540,000.

A further six grow houses were discovered hooked up illegally to the power network last year, according to data from ESB Networks.

Cannabis cultivators typically use colossal amounts of electricity to power lighting systems, heating, and ventilation for indoor growing.

The grow houses were among 319 cases detected in 2025 where people had tampered with meters, bypassed meters, or reconnected without permission.

ESB Networks said there were 64 cases of tampering last year, figures released under FOI showed.

There were a further 104 “unofficial reconnections” and 145 cases where somebody had bypassed meters to access power supplies.

For 2024, ESB Networks was able to provide more detailed data on 357 cases where people illegally tapped into the electricity network.

That included the 18 cannabis grow houses, where none of the cost of the electricity could be recovered by the semi-state company.