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THE CHAIRPERSON OF the Office of Public Works (OPW) John Conlon has said the cost €336,000 bike shelter at Leinster House in Dublin would’ve been “far, far lower” if it were constructed at the location it initially proposed.
During a meeting of the Oireachtas Finance Committee today, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett asked if there was any truth to reports that the OPW had originally proposed that the project be located at a different area of the campus.
Conlon confirmed that the OPW had originally planned for the bike shelter to be placed next to the Members’ Restaurant on the Leinster House campus but the proposal was rejected over security concerns.
The new bike shelter is placed at the back of the campus and is viewable from the public footpath at the entrance of Leinster House on Merrion Street Upper in the city centre.
The Bike Shelter as viewable from the public footpath on Merrion St Upper in Dublin. RollingNews.ie
RollingNews.ie
Conlon, responding to a question by Boyd Barrett over the difference in the price for both locations, said the cost would’ve been “far, far lower” if it were located at the originally proposed area.
Boyd Barrett said:
“I’m baffled. As somebody who walks from [Agriculture] House into Leinster House every, single day, why that wouldn’t have been a perfectly suitable location.”
Earlier in the meeting, it was put to the management that the bike shelter would not protect bicycles from the rain as the roof of the structure was facing the wall. The management claimed that it was part of the original plans.
Conlon told TDs while he accepts the €336,000 price tag was an “extraordinary cost”, he did not accept that taxpayer money was wasted.
Conlon said he did not accept that the bike shed was a waste of taxpayers' money. Oireachtas.ie
Oireachtas.ie
He said in his opening statement that the price of the 36-space bike shelter was “not acceptable in the wider context of value for money and value for the taxpayer”.
Conlon – who has recently also been appointed as the Accounting Officer of the OPW – added that he has taken immediate steps to review the Governance structures inside the agency since the cost of the bike shelter was first reported.
This includes a downward revision of project approval thresholds – meaning upper management at the OPW must now approve of any plans that cost €200,000 or more. Previously, it was later admitted, the threshold was €1 million.
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Asked by Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty if he believes taxpayer money was “wasted” on the bike shelter, Conlon said:
“I don’t accept it was a waste of taxpayers’ money. I do accept it was very, very expensive.”
Doherty added that it was clear, despite making changes to the thresholds only yesterday, that the OPW had not learnt from previous occasions where an “enormous” amount of public money had been spent.
Doherty pointed to the cost of the shop, in a glass structure located the front entrance of Leinster House, which had gone over budget by more than €500,000 in 2014. The TD said that lessons should’ve been learnt at that point.
Mayo TD Rose Conway-Walsh later asked the management of the OPW what reason does the public have to believe that lessons would be learnt arising from the bike shelter controversy.
Conlon defended his position: “I am the new accounting officer. I’m bringing a fresh approach to this, Deputy. I’m going to do my best in this case.”
But later it was revealed that the new security hut located at the back of the campus had cost €1.429 million. Conlon said the vast amount of costs for that project were attributed to the security protocols that were to be carried out.
Review found cost ‘completely unacceptable’
A review by OPW also found that a bike shelter erected on the grounds of Leinster House came at an “extraordinary cost” that was “completely not acceptable”. During the committee meeting, it was said that the Minister for the OPW had accepted the report.
Many in Leinster House have since expressed disappointment over the amount of money that was spent on the bike shelter, which holds 36 bicycles, and the Taoiseach and other ministers ordered the report into the decision-making process.
Image of the bike shed at Leinster House RollingNews.ie
RollingNews.ie
The OPW’s Accounting Officer John Conlon has said that the cost was not acceptable “in the wider context of value for money and value for the taxpayer”.
“It is an extraordinary cost for the provision of a covered bicycle parking facility and one which the OPW has to seriously reflect on.” He said the OPW will also get an external audit of the project, to “ensure full transparency”.
Oireachtas Committee
Inflation in the construction industry, flood defences and mitigation measures, insurance against natural disasters and the climate impact on areas prone to frequent flooding were also scheduled to be discussed today.
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It’s great news at last, it’s the small businesses that suffer the most and it’s about time the small companies get the help they need, it’s they afterall that form the communities and hold together society, not some multinational that will bugger off when it suits them or when the “deal” is up.
Ned Gash is junketing off to Sweden for St Patrick’s Day.
I sincerely hope that there are some good and caring Irish people in America, Canada, New Zealand, Australia etc. who are well aware of what’s going on at home and will come out and demonstrate wherever these wasters show up! Tell your family members and friends abroad, who have been forced to emigrate by the actions of this so called government, to let these miserable ministers know how they feel at the St Patrick’s Day parades around the world.
I wish you would shit in your hands. I’ve had two jobsbridge candidates who are still employed. Attitudes like your are the reason hard working folk resent social welfare.
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