THE MINISTER FOR Justice has been called upon to explain why he and his Department “kept secret a sweetheart rental agreement” for former Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.
During a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Office of Public Works (OPW) confirmed to Labour PAC member Eoghan Kenny that Drew Harris had lived in a property on Spa Road, Phoenix Park for the length of his tenure as Commissioner.
The property had undergone €400,000 worth of renovations before Harris moved in from 2018 to 2025. Rent charged for the property, which is owned by the OPW, was €21,000 per annum and this did not increase throughout the years Harris lived there.
An Garda Síochána paid the Commissioner’s rent directly to the OPW.
Today, Eoghan Kenny and Labour’s Justice spokesperson Alan Kelly said in a joint statement that Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan and his Department “constantly refused to reveal that they were paying the former Garda Commissioner’s rent”.
Kelly said he had asked Parliamentary Questions of Jim O’Callaghan regarding the Commissioner’s renumeration package, and Harris’s accommodation was not revealed in any answer.
Kelly said this was “not acceptable”.
“A Minister has an obligation to answer parliamentary questions candidly and comprehensively. This did not happen. Instead this was hidden until my colleague Eoghan Kenny followed up on my questions in the Public Accounts Committee with the OPW,” he said.
Kelly said the rate of rent not changing over the seven years An Garda Síochána leased the property for the use of Drew Harris was “crazy in itself as the rents of everyone else across the country multiplied”.
He continued: “What is even more unacceptable is that An Garda Siochána gave the Commissioner a house rent free for over seven years. The Commissioner was the accounting officer for the gardaí and as such was signing off on his own rent being paid, and never revealed this.
“Why did they hide this? Why wasn’t this known while he served in the role? Why did the taxpayers pay his rent while he was on over €250,000 a year?
“Why did Minister O’Callaghan feel it necessary to continue to hide this and crucially, what else is being hidden by his Department?”
Kelly said the Minister should make a public statement on the matter immediately.
His colleague Kenny said the matter also raised questions for whether other OPW properties being used by public figures or senior civil servants have similar stagnant rents while “young people [are] getting screwed by rising rents”.
