The Road Safety Authority (RSA) is renting an office for its chairwoman Liz O'Donnell on Pembroke Street, in Dublin 2, at a cost of just under €30,000 per annum.
This means that for the first time the RSA now has two Dublin offices as it also has a premises on Bow Street on the north side of the city.
Ms O’Donnell’s predecessor Gay Byrne did not have an RSA office during his period as chairman with the agency.
According to information released by the RSA under the Freedom of Information Act, the accommodation on Upper Pembroke Street in Dublin 2 “provides the chairperson of the authority with a location to meet people and stakeholders, hold interviews, and to perform her duties as a chairperson”.
The office is also used as the location for board meetings held by the authority, of which there were 10 in 2015. It is not clear if all these board meetings were held in Dublin.
The annual cost of the Pembroke Street office is €29,500 and the RSA said the lease was only for 2016. It is not clear if the authority is proposing to lease office space for its chairman for 2017.
Previously, the authority held board meetings at Dublin solicitors’ offices at no charge but the RSA said this arrangement had come to an end.
According to the RSA, the second office was necessary as the authority had no “fit for purpose” location to hold board meetings in Dublin.
It said the Bow Street offices have a number of hot desks, an office for the chief executive and two meeting rooms.
The RSA said if board meetings were to be held in Bow Street, “additional meeting rooms and hot desk facilities would have to be procured to accommodate the overflow”.
It said the Bow Street office lacked receptionist facilities, on-street parking and said there was no private office available for the chairperson at this location.
It added these offices were in constant use by RSA staff preparing for court prosecutions.
Ms O’Donnell took over the role from Mr Byrne in 2014. In 2013, the last full year for which figures are available, Mr Byrne’s remuneration as chairman was €12,600. The RSA chairman is an non-executive role.
