The construction of the €335,000 bike shelter at Leinster House was hit by delays due to concerns over the removal of car parking spaces for TDs and Senators as well as challenges over not disrupting the Dáil.
Internal records from the Oireachtas, released following a freedom of information request, show the completion date for the project slipped repeatedly. Strict conditions were put in place for the project to ensure “full dust containment” and to avoid any debris ending up in easily blocked historic drains.
The records go some way to explain why the project proved so costly, with Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Feargháil telling the Dáil this week the final €336,051 bill was a “profound embarrassment”.
A meeting between the OPW and the Oireachtas last September was told the foundations for the project were to be laid in the coming weeks but that “effectively work can now only proceed during non-sitting periods”. Notes of the meeting said: “A completion date will be around the 14th [of] January whereby the car parking spaces [for TDs and Senators] will be returned for use.”
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By the following month, the project still appeared to be on track with “fabrication in process” and the “handover” date still set for mid-January.
However, by the time January came, the project had been delayed with minutes of a meeting saying the new completion date was now the second week of March. By February, progress was delayed again – this time until the end of March.
The documents detail how the Oireachtas was worried about the temporary loss of parking spaces for politicians. One email between officials last September said: “[We have been asked] to ensure that the hoarding around the proposed bicycle parking is removed before the sittings resume. We have lost approximately ten parking spaces due to the hoarding, and that loss is not tenable once members return.”
Another email from last September explained how the original plans for the shelter had included the provision of EV charging points for bicycles. However, that was dropped due to what was seen as a “significant fire risk”.
At the end of February, a difficulty arose in moving the frame for the shelter. “We didn’t take into consideration the space required for lifting the structure of the bike shelter,” said a message from the contractor.
Asked about the records, an Oireachtas spokeswoman said: “The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission had no role in relation to the approval of capital expenditure for the bicycle shelter in Leinster House. The cost was not paid from the Commission’s budget.”
She said that a plan for the provision of a bicycle shelter had been brought before the Oireachtas Commission in June 2021 and was approved.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the Dáil’s spending watchdog, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) wants to bring the OPW before it on October 10th to quiz its officials on the bikeshed project. The OPW is also due to appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and Public Expenditure next week.
A Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) report which will include information on the bikeshed is expected to be published in the interim.
At its meeting on Thursday, PAC chairman Brian Stanley outlined how the committee is seeking an OPW briefing on the cost and work associated with the project including all documentation related to contracts for design, planning and construction; a timeline from “concept to delivery” and a schedule of decision-makers and managers working on the project.
Fianna Fáil PAC member Paul McAuliffe told the meeting that “rightly or wrongly the public believe that when works take place in this House... there is some political oversight of those works and of the costs associated with them.”
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