The body responsible for running the Leinster House campus rejected as unacceptable a “cost effective” option for a bike shelter, according to new documents released by the Office of Public Works (OPW).
Controversy has raged for weeks after it emerged the OPW built a bike shed on the Merrion Square side of Leinster House which cost €336,000, with the Oireachtas Commission, which runs Leinster House, especially critical of the spending.
However, a report on the bike shed construction drawn up by the OPW and published on Wednesday morning shows that during consultations on the project in April 2021, it communicated that its “preferred option” was for a facility deeper inside the complex of buildings, close to the members restaurant.
“These options included OPW’s preferred option to locate facilities in the West Road, in front of the 1966 Block outside the Member’s Restaurant. The positives were that it was ‘out of sight’, adjacent to an entrance, would not impact on listed buildings and would likely be a cost effective option to deliver,” the report states.
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It continues: “The OPW understood that this option would require operational changes relating to security and circulation which were not insurmountable.”
However, it outlines that members of the Oireachtas Commission, a body largely composed of politicians and chaired by Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghail, “indicated that provision of covered or uncovered bicycle parking in the West Road was not an acceptable proposition. This was supported by security advice.”
The report outlines that the Commission asked that covered bike parking with potential for provision of charging systems for e-bikes be provided on the Merrion Square side of Leinster House, as close to Leinster House as possible.
The report outlines that the OPW had earlier pointed to the aesthetic undesirability of installing covered facilities at either side of Leinster House which would be visible to the public. “They also advised that such facilities would be more costly to install than facilities which might be located ‘back of house’.” However it notes that no estimate of cost was provided at this stage.
In June 2021 the OPW presented a plan for the bike shed to the Oireachtas Commission, which approved the plan, but that no estimates or costings were presented at this juncture.
Management at the OPW will in future have to oversee and approve all works costing more than €200,000 in the wake of the controversy.
The previous threshold for such oversight is €500,000.
John Conlon, the chairman of the OPW is expected to tell the Oireachtas Finance and Public Expenditure Committee later today that the bike shelter “has been the source of considerable concern for the political system and the general public.”
He will say: “I understand the anger and frustration of both elected representatives and the public.
“I want to make it clear that I am taking immediate steps to ensure that this does not happen again.”
His opening statement says “while the costs for this project can be explained, the overall cost of delivering this bicycle shelter is 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 bicycle shelter and one which the OPW must reflect on.”
He will say that the project has been reviewed and “The design of the facility was conservation-led, with the main focus of being to provide a solution that met the client needs.”
However he adds: “I am taking immediate measures to ensure that, in future, the value for money aspect of projects of this scale is more ‘front and centre’ in our processes.
His statement also says “In future, the OPW will ensure that the Oireachtas Commission is fully informed of costs for all elective projects in Leinster House.
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