The taxpayer is paying more than €122m every year to property developers, private individuals and major companies. The massive rental bill is paid out across more than 500 properties spread right across the state, the Office of Public Works has said.

Amongst the biggest beneficiaries of the lease agreements – many of which run for up to 35 years and cannot be renegotiated now to reflect falling rental values – is the property developer Liam Carroll. He and his wife Roisín rake in more than €3m-per-year for properties at Chapter House on Capel St in Dublin's city centre.

A nearby office block on Strand St is also rented to the Office of Public Works for an annual fee of €265,675.

Through his company Danninger, Carroll also pockets a further €766,475 in taxpayers' money for the lease of a property called King's Inn House on Parnell St. The developer also gets €2m a year for a block in George's Court in Smithfield, records from the Office of Public Works show.

Another well-known property developer, Bernard McNamara, also rents a substantial number of office blocks to the state. Bell Trap, a company with which he and developer Jerry O'Reilly are involved, has €4.2m worth of leases with the government for offices at Bishops Square in Dublin.

Other businessmen or companies who have fared well from the lucrative deals are Lochlann Quinn, Larry Goodman, John Dwyer and Anglo Irish Bank, which rents premises at Harcourt St to the gardaí for €1.278m for 2,531sq m of office space and 54 parking spots. Larry Goodman also has a number of rental agreements with the state, mainly through his company Reverie. A total of €3.7m is paid each year to the company for properties at the Setanta Centre. Some of the lease agreements involved in that deal will last 35 years, according to the OPW.

Other less well-known groups also do well from the state rental agreements including the Knights of Columbanus who get €711,322 a year for a property at Ely Place.