Security costs for politicians – OPW

Some time ago we sent a request to the Office of Public Works seeking information on how much had been spent by that body on any works at the homes of Irish politicians. We sought a breakdown of this information and sought to understand if anything other than works in relation to security had been carried out at the homes or constituency offices of politicians, particularly ministers.

The OPW initially refused our request citing several exemptions under the FOI Act. We appealed the decision, at a cost of €75. Four weeks later our appeal was rejected. We then appealed the decision to the Information Commissioner. It appears to have taken the OPW some time to deal with the Information Commissioner’s office (we started this process several months ago).

In a settlement reached via the Information Commissioner, it was agreed that information related to expenditure would be released but in an anonymised format, due to security considerations. We agreed to this.

As far as we can understand much of these costs are in relation to some things you can see on Google Street View, such as the green structures outside the Taoiseach’s house, and the home of the former Taoiseach. It also might relate to the laying of cables, triple glazed windows and security systems.

Politician A
€ 3,300.00
€ 48,160.00
€ 262.00
€ 20,640.00
€ 52,168.35
€ 13,270.27

Total: €137,800.62

Politician B
€ 15,600.00

Politician C
€ 13,850.00
€ 25,681.50
€ 38.974.00
€ 10,861.50
€ 4,428.28
€ 2,400.00
€ 780.00
€190,572.50

Total: €248,573.78

Politician D
€ 74,450.39

Politician E
€ 1,440.00
€ 1,895.00

Total: €3,335

Politician F
€ 20,000.00
€ 385.00
€ 9,900.00
€ 2,850.00
€ 87,950.00
€ 96,650.00
€ 68,000.00

Total: €285,735

Overall total: €765,494.79