Security shelter at Government Buildings cost €1.4m, says OPW
Of Hut Outside The Of The Picture: Brian A Wire Security Department Lawless/pa Finance View
A security hut at the entrance to Government Buildings cost more than €1.4m, it has emerged.
John Conlon, chairman of the Office of Public Works (OPW), told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that while it involves “fairly significant costs”, the project included a significant mechanical and electrical system that is connected to the Government Buildings campus.
Mr Conlon made the comments while appearing before the committee to answer questions about the high costs of a bike shelter at Leinster House.
Speaking about the shelter, Mr Conlon said he would have asked for the bike shed to be "rescoped" had he been aware of its cost, but said he does not accept the project was a waste of money.
He said while he would have been “very, very uncomfortable” with the €336,000 project had he been in the job at the time it was approved, “I don’t accept it was a waste of taxpayers’ money”.
Mr Conlon told the committee that the OPW team in question “had regard” to the body’s procurement processes when commissioning the work, but did “not have regard to a judgement call when they saw the costs arising”.
He said the project was “very high cost” and that that approach had been “conservation-led”.
“It was a very expensive shelter, but it was procured in a way that was competitive,” Mr Conlon said. He said the project’s “design and conservation” had driven the heightened costs.
Mr Conlon further acknowledged that in terms of the bike shelter “the location chosen turned out to be the most expensive possible”.
Had he been working with the OPW at the time the shelter was commissioned and privy to the costs, he said he would "have been very, very uncomfortable. I’d have questioned it”.
“I would have taken advice. I think I’d have asked for a rescoping of the project, I’m saying that in hindsight,” Mr Conlon said.
Earlier on Wednesday the OPW published its own internal report into the bike shelter’s construction, within which Mr Conlon noted that a more “cost-effective” option had initially been proposed by the OPW to the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission in late 2020, an option which had been rejected on security concerns.
The OPW chairman said that if he had been handling the project now he would hold “more fulsome” conversations with that commission, which holds responsibility for the administration of Leinster House and Government Buildings.
He acknowledged that at no point was the commission informed what the bike shelter was going to cost.
Asked as to what other projects the OPW has carried out within the environs of Leinster House in recent times, Mr Conlon noted that a new security shelter at the entrance to Government Buildings on South Road had cost €1.429m, though that project had not been carried out by the same contractor as had handled the bike shelter.
He said the security shelter had followed “an extensive” security review by gardaí and others.
“There was a huge element to that project,” he said adding that there is “far more to that project than meets the eye”.
Green Party TD Steven Matthews asked Mr Conlon about the cost of the security shelter, which Mr Conlon confirmed was an OPW project.
The security hut is located at the south gate entrance to Government Buildings.
Mr Matthews said: “That is a very attractive security hut with a sweeping, copper clad roof on it. It looks very well.
“What was the cost on that project?”
Mr Conlon said: “The full cost of that project, deputy, will be €1.429m.
“But I want to emphasise that that followed extensive review of security in this campus by the Garda Siochana Technical Advisory Group and whilst it looks like and is a fairly significant cost, there are very significant mechanical, electrical and security system costs in that.
“There was also a significant cost to provide a temporary structure where that building was taking place, there was significant underground works, there was significant ventilation, communications.
“There was significant rerouting of underground services so there is a huge security element to this project.” Mr Conlon told the committee that the project would have been signed off by the general secretary of the OPW.
Mr Conlon, who assumed the OPW role in April of this year, underlined that in terms of accountability, he is the accounting officer for the OPW, and said he was “very conscious of treating public servants with respect”.
“I’m here to account for the OPW, I don’t want to individualise to one person,” he said.
He confirmed that, effective immediately, the cost threshold for a project which can be approved by a sole OPW staff member at the principal officer level has now been reduced from €500,000 to €200,000.
Asked whether or not value-for-money was a relevant concern for decision-makers behind the bike shelter, Mr Conlon said that that consideration “wasn’t strong enough” and amounted to “a rudimentary assessment”.
He acknowledged that the bike shed project had been further outsourced by the OPW’s relevant south Dublin contractor Sensori Facilities Management.
That company, together with PJ Hegarty, currently holds the OPW tender for smaller-scale measured term maintenance contracts (MTMC) such as the bike shed project.