Labour’s rebuilding funds tied up in €212k lease on ‘Taj Mahal’ office

Vital funds to help rebuild Labour after its bruising election result are tied up in a €212,000 annual lease for a plush office that disgruntled party figures have dubbed as the ‘Taj Mahal’.

Money to fund support for representation in former Labour strongholds and to prepare the party for the local elections in three years is instead paying for a deluxe penthouse office, emptied of staff.

Party leader Joan Burton was confronted about the dilemma at a post-election meeting of candidates last week in Dublin, amid concerns that the office lease — understood to run until the end of 2017 — is gobbling up the reduced resources left after the disastrous election outcome.