OPW accused of overspending on property
The Office of Public Works (OPW) is overspending on public property deals on a systematic basis, it was claimed today.
The list includes five centres for asylum-seekers which were never used and a courthouse in Cork which went from costing €3.8m to €26m.
Fine Gael TD Michael Noonan said the projects, which were carried out by the Office of Public Works (OPW), would not inspire confidence in the state body.
“It seems to be part of a culture and it seems to be systematic because there are several instances of it,” he said.
Mr Noonan is the chairman of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, which is to launch a report on the OPW’s property deals today.
Mr Noonan said the state body had spent €19.5m on five buildings for asylum-seekers but had never used them.
“There was a property in the south-east (Ionad Folláin in Carlow) which cost €1.3m. Two weeks ago, the OPW said it was valued at €500,000.”
The OPW acquired a site for the regional office of the Probation and Welfare Service in the Donaghmede shopping centre in Dublin in 2000. It had to pay higher rents for the commercial space and underestimated the cost of outfitting it at €150,000 instead of €1.5m.
“That is 1,000% inflation on an estimate. The legalities got in a tangle and it remained unused for three years,” said Mr Noonan.
He told RTÉ radio that the Public Accounts Committee would be making strong recommendations in its report to prevent future cost overruns.
