Condo that costs us €23k a month

THIS is the lavish $23,500-a-month taxpayer-funded Manhattan condo where the Taoiseach made his disparaging comments about the media at a supposedly ‘private’ lunch earlier this week, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The apartment is the residence of Ireland’s most senior diplomat in New York, the Consul General Ciaran Madden, who hosted the event as part of Ireland’s bid to secure a UN Security Council seat.

The 3,000sq ft three bedroom condo, at 50 United Nations Plaza, between East 44th and East 45th Street in Midtown East, boasts a private wine cellar and views of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building and Citibank Tower. The building has a 75ft pool, fitness centre and valet parking.

Previously the Consul General was living in a larger $29,995-amonth duplex penthouse apartment in the same building, but was told by the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2013 to find a new ‘more cost-effective alternative’.

The Consulate General eventually downsized to the current apartment after more than two years looking for a suitable property. The MoS previously reported that saga, which began in December 2013 when the lease on the old residence came up for renewal and the owners signalled they would be upping the rent to $35,000 a month.

An internal email from one of the diplomatic staff in New York said: ‘I explained that it would be very difficult to get the agreement of my authorities to such a large increase, particularly given the challenging economic circumstances in Ireland at this time.’

The diplomatic staff looked at three properties: one was only half the size of the current residence, another had no decent space for entertaining, while another appeared to be two smaller apartments converted into a larger one.

They went back to their landlord who, after negotiations, agreed they could keep the apartment for $29,995 per month, with monthly service charges of nearly $2,000.

Department bosses agreed to an extension of a single year on condition the Consulate continued to look for a new cheaper property.

By the end of 2014, little progress had been made as the property market was booming and the department had to extend the lease for another year.

Apartment boasts its own private wine cellar