OPW is called out in Dail over rentals

THE OPW has been called on to end a “nod-and-a-wink" practice of renting homes in Dublin's Phoenix Park to civil servants for little rent.

- BY CIARA O'LOUGHLIN

It has emerged that former and current civil servants renting properties owned by the Office of Public Works (OPW) in the sought-after area are paying between €670 and €4,160 a year.

The Dail Public Accounts Committee heard yesterday the OPW owns 55 properties in the Phoenix Park, and that half of them are vacant.

Sinn Fein TD Joanna Byrne said there was a reluctance from the OPW to provide exact details on the rents, which “flies in the face of the reality of what people are living in the depths of the property crisis”.