Political advisers and staff in the Department of the Taoiseach received close to €500,000 in total in redundancy and severance payments when they had to leave their jobs following the resignation of Leo Varadkar last year. The accounts state that eight staff members in the department whose employment was terminated in 2024 were paid redundancy payments of €77,232 and severance payments totalling €396,415. The Department of the Taoiseach said all payments were made in line with guidelines provided by the Department of Public Expenditure. Mr Harris said the associated severance/ex gratia payments, including statutory redundancy, were at that time being processed by the National Shared Services Office. In its statement the Department of the Taoiseach said it “paid a total of €473,647 in statutory redundancy/severance payments in 2024″.

Source: The Irish Times December 30, 2025 15:01 UTC