OPW covers the €5m cost of gardaí’s mobile phone calls

GARDAÍ have run up €5 million in mobile phone calls since 1997, leaving the Office of Public Works (OPW) to pick up the bill.

Details released by the OPW yesterday reveal that gardaí made calls worth 4.9m since 1997 on handsets supplied free by 02.

However, as a result of a complicated deal between the Department of Justice, the OPW, gardaí and O2, the cost of all calls was deducted from rent due on mobile phone masts on Garda stations.