Government department spent €500,000 extra on utility bills during 2020

Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy asked about utility costs at every department, along with any ventilation or air-filtration systems which had been put in place during the pandemic.

A key Government department’s spending on electricity and heating increased by just under €500,000 in 2020, despite the majority of civil servants working from home during the pandemic.

The Department of Social Protection, the body responsible for the key Pandemic Unemployment Payment welfare support, spent €4m on utility costs for its various buildings across 2020, up from €3.5m in the previous 12 months.

The jump in cost, some 14% in size, is attributable to all of the department’s buildings — including close to 130 local Intreo welfare offices — remaining open for longer across the pandemic, according to a spokesperson.

“The Department of Social Protection was designated as an essential service and, while the department facilitated working from home for many of its staff, all of the department’s offices remained open to facilitate customers unable to access services online,” a spokesperson said.

They said by further way of explanation for the heightened bills that some of the department’s offices had operated on a shift basis, including at weekends “to facilitate social distancing”.

This had led to “buildings needing to be heated, lit and ventilated for longer periods”, they said. 

Many officials worked weekends, public holidays and other extended hours to deal with the unprecedented high volume of claims during the pandemic.”

The costs are detailed in a series of replies to parliamentary questions tabled by Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy, who had asked about utility costs at every department, along with any ventilation or air-filtration systems which had been put in place during the pandemic.

Some €43.6m was spent on electricity and heating across 16 Government departments and agencies between 2018 and October of 2021, with Social Protection, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Foreign Affairs by far the biggest spenders, with well over €1.5m paid out in each case each year.

Some €21.3m was spent across the departments which replied in the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.

Each department described encouraging its staff to work from home together with reduced maximum building occupancies, natural ventilation and air-conditioning systems among the mitigation measures employed against the virus.

The Department of Health — the body whose utilities spend dropped by €180,000 across 2020, primarily due to lower heating costs — described its own headquarters at Miesian Plaza in Dublin as being “one of the most advanced buildings in Ireland with regard to ventilation systems”.

Just one body, the Department of Justice, admitted to installing air-filtration devices as a mitigation measure.

“Limited numbers of units have been provided in certain laboratory and other technical environment settings, in 2021,” the department said.