The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuív, spent virtually one night a week at Farmleigh, the State's official guest house in the Phoenix Park, for much of the recent Irish EU presidency, writes Martin Wall.
Ministers were offered overnight accommodation at Farmleigh to allow them to attend weekly breakfast meetings of the Cabinet during the presidency.
However, figures released by the Office of Public Works show that Mr Ó Cuív stayed at Farmleigh on a far more frequent basis than any of his colleagues in Government.
Mr Ó Cuív was an overnight guest at Farmleigh on 19 occasions over the six months, according to the Office of Public Works.
Only three other Cabinet Ministers spent a night at Farmleigh during the period of the EU presidency. The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, spent a night at the State guest house on two occasions while both the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, stayed there on one occasion each.
The Government chief whip, Ms Mary Hanafin, and the Minister of State, Ms Síle de Valera, were also guests at Farmleigh for one night during the EU presidency.
A spokeswoman for Mr Ó Cuív told The Irish Times last night that the Minister had stayed at Farmleigh to allow him to attend Cabinet breakfast meetings that started at 8.30 a.m. She said that Mr Ó Cuív generally did not arrive at Farmleigh until around 2 a.m. on the morning of the breakfast meetings.
The spokeswoman said that Mr Ó Cuív generally worked late in his constituency on Mondays before travelling to his office in Dublin.
The Cabinet held weekly breakfast meetings at the Farmleigh estate during the course of the EU Presidency.
The Office of Public Works stated that after Farmleigh came into public ownership in 1999 the Government had decided that it should be used as an official State guest house for visiting heads of state and other senior foreign dignitaries. The Cabinet also decided that it should be used as the venue for Government meetings requiring overnight accommodation and for other State or cultural purposes.