Fury over €4.4m upgrade of home for ambassador

A €4.4 million make-over of the Canadian residence of an Irish ambassador has been condemned as an outrageous abuse of taxpayers’ money at a time when the country is in economic freefall.

Fine Gael Foreign Affairs spokesman Billy Timmins said the costly upgrade of the residence of ambassador Declan Kelly, in Rockcliffe Park, Ottawa, was “an insult to every single taxpayer”.

His comments followed weekend reports in a Canadian newspaper that construction works had just finished after a 15-month project to gut and re-fit what was once a “modest stone house”.