State pays €103m rent to property barons

The State spent over €103m renting property from Nama-hit developers, beef barons, business tycoons, banks and even religious organisations last year.

Property tycoons like Liam Carroll and John Byrne are just some of the names which remain on the list despite many of their companies going into receivership in recent years.

The figures, released by the Office of Public Works show the total state rental bill on 523 leases comes to over €103m. This figure has fallen substantially in recent years from €156m in 2009 and €129m in 2010.