Setting up the Workplace Relations Commission cost €1.1m
The creation of the Workplace Relations Commission has cost the taxpayer just over €1.1m.
The body - which came into operation in recent weeks - amalgamates a number of state agencies including the Labour Relations Commission.
The majority of the cost was spend on the creation of a complaint and adjudication system at a total of almost €800,000.
The Workplace Relations Commission came into being on October 1 this year.
The body brings together five state agencies - the Labour Relations Commission, the National Employment Rights Authority, the Equality Tribunal, the Rights Commissioners Service and the first-instance functions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
It has now emerged that bringing all of these bodies together has cost a total of €1,116,737.32.
The costs are broken down into initial set-up, including the complaint and adjudication system, rebranding and signage and a Ministerial launch event at the body's headquarters at a cost of approximately €10,000.
The leader of Renua Lucinda Creighton said the costs were a return to Celtic Tiger-era spending.
She said: "The establishment of the commission is welcome, but the costs seem to be off the charts."
Deputy Creighton called on the Government to explain the expenditure. However the Workplace Relations Commission emphasised that a significant portion of the costs were an investment in the longterm establishment of rebranding the body.
