TheStory.ie

A community swimming pool that was expected to cost less than €13 million has already cost nearly €18 million and even though construction began in 2019, it is still not open.

The pool facility in Lucan in West Dublin has been dogged by delays with the final cost of the project now expected to rise to around €20 million.

When it was originally costed in 2017, South Dublin County Council expected the final bill to be around €12.985 million.

A project schedule from the time said that once the contract was awarded, it should only take fourteen months to construct.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic, severe weather, and a variety of other issues have seen the project go way beyond schedule with completion dates pushed back at least a dozen times.

A series of updates to queries from councillors show how the opening day for the swimming pool and leisure centre kept shifting.

In late 2020, a local representative was told the handover date was meant to be February 2021, but that this had been moved back to June 2021.

An update said: “The project has been significantly delayed due firstly to poor weather conditions in the early part of 2020 and then the enforced closure of the site for a number of weeks during the COVID-19 national lockdown.”

In late 2021, another councillor was given an update saying the completion date was now likely to be in April or May of 2022.

That date then got pushed to August 2022 though even that proved hopelessly optimistic.

Local Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin asked in January 2023 when the pool was likely to be open and was told June 2023 was now the target and that this was “very disappointing” to the council.

A letter to him said: “As you will be aware the project has been impacted significantly by various construction sector challenges.”

By last year, the project still wasn’t complete with councillors told in August 2024 that the local authority was still working with the contractor to “agree a revised programme.”

In February of this year, Deputy Eoin Ó Broin again sought an update and was told more resources were being provided to “expedite project completion.”

A letter to him said: “The council understands both the importance of this project to the local community and the frustration that the delays have caused.”

An update to councillors in January said: “Completion of the project continues to be challenging, primarily; as noted previously, due to contractor resources and sub-contractor availability.

“[We are] continuing to intensively manage the project and main contractor to achieve the earliest possible completion dates.”

South Dublin County Council had originally refused to provide details of how much they had so far spent on the project.

However, following an appeal under FOI laws, they disclosed that costs so far were €17.87 million, which included €15.7 million in payments to the main contractor.

Dublin Port Company has been told it must release documents it holds on discussions over payment of the vacant site levy to Dublin City Council.

Using Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) Regulations, Right to Know had sought copies of all correspondence between the port operator and the local authority about the levy, which is intended to bring idle land into use for housing.

Dublin Port Company said the records were not environmental but the Commissioner for Environmental Information (CEI) has ruled in our favour.

It’s a useful decision for anybody who is planning to make requests for information around planning, development land, dereliction, or land hoarding.

It also highlights again the usefulness of the AIE Regulations in accessing information from public bodies that are exempt from the FOI Act.

This includes most of the semi-state agencies like Coillte, Bord na Móna, the DAA, and the Irish Aviation Authority.

You can find a full list of them at this link.

An Garda Síochána has been told to release all records they hold about providing incorrect figures to the Department of Justice on policing strength.

Last year, An Garda made a formal apology to the then-Justice Minister Helen McEntee after providing data that appeared to show a sudden jump in the number of gardaí stationed in her constituency.

The Department of Justice, which provided the information in a parliamentary question, subsequently had to withdraw it.

In the wake of that, Right to Know sought copies of all records held by An Garda on how the incorrect figures had been provided and the fallout from it.

Under legislation, the gardaí are only subject to FOI in an extremely limited way for matters relating to finance, procurement, and human resources.

Unlike in other countries, all information relating to operational policing or for example, crime figures is entirely off-limits.

Even with that, An Garda sought to exempt documents on this controversy saying the FOI Act did not apply to them even though they related directly to human resources.

A summary of their position said: “[An Garda] says the provision of information to the Department for the purposes of replying to PQs is not an administrative matter relating to human resources, finance, or procurement, rather it is a statutory obligation under section 40 of the Garda Síochána Act.”

We argued that a blanket exemption like this could not be applied and each record should have been assessed on its merits.

We also queried why An Garda had not supplied a schedule of records, as is considered best practice under the FOI Act.

The Information Commissioner found in our favour saying: “I do not accept the proposition that if records which relate to administrative matters concerning human resources are provided pursuant to a statutory duty they cease to be human resources records for the purposes of FOI.”

A failed driving test applicant began punching walls and kicked a door while another unleashed a volley of abuse at a tester for refusing to conduct an exam in a car that stank of cigarettes.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) said since the beginning of last year they’ve recorded 85 accidents involving driving tests, 15 near-miss events, and 38 cases involving abuse of staff.

On five separate occasions, gardaí had to be called to investigate, including one serious incident where two testers received threatening letters to their home.

The RSA also said there had been multiple cases where a failed candidate had made “accusations of racism” according to a log of incidents they provided under FOI.

A report on one incident earlier this year said a test candidate had become verbally abusive after being told they had failed.

An account of it said: “Tester proceeded to write out the statement of test outcome and when it was handed it to the applicant it was scrunched it up and started shouting and using abusive language towards tester again.

“Tester got up and walked away again, but this time [the] applicant landed punches on the walls and kicked the door.”

There were other dangerous incidents out on the road including one candidate who turned the wrong direction into oncoming traffic right beside a test centre.

“Another driver had to take avoiding action to avoid a collision,” said a note of the incident.

In another case, a tester had to intervene after a child was almost hit by an applicant while another staff member complained of a near catastrophic accident.

The Justice Minister was briefed that a €159,000 deportation operation would be cloaked in secrecy so that asylum seekers would not flee their homes or make last-gasp legal challenges.

A briefing for Jim O’Callaghan said a planned charter flight to Georgia would be challenging especially in finding and detaining the individuals identified.

The minister was told word was already spreading that people were being taken into custody with others already “evading as news of the detentions to date emerges into the public domain.”

Mr O’Callaghan was also informed there was a significant risk of legal challenge though none had been received by the time of the briefing on 20 February.

The document said: “It is expected that once the departure date becomes clear, these [legal challenges] will be lodged in the form of last-minute injunction applications.”

It said there was also a chance that deportees would use a backdoor route to reapply for asylum under international protection legislation.

The briefing explained: “The relevant unit … has been briefed and is on alert to process such applications as soon as possible with a view to ensuring that those making applications without merit continue to be available for the flight.”

The minister was told that the one-way cost of the flight would be around €102,500 with further costs of €11,590 for a team of paramedics to go with the deportees.

There would also be other costs for baggage, “light pre-flight refreshments” and ground handling services.

However, officials said it would not make sense for garda escort officers to return on a separate charter flight, which could have cost as much as €170,000.

Instead, standard flights would be booked for them bringing the total cost of the operation in late February to around €159,000.

The briefing also documented in detail the preparations as the department delayed informing even the prison authorities about their plans.

It said: “Twenty-eight potential passengers are now in detention. None as yet have challenged their detention.

“Information dissemination on the scheduling of the flight has been restricted to what is necessary. Cloverhill Prison, where the detainees are held, will be notified on Monday 24 February of our intention to remove the prisoners.”

The minister was told contact had been made with the Georgian Embassy who were helping to provide travel documents.

“Up to ninety-five garda personnel have been assigned to travel on the aircraft. The final number of gardaí will be dictated by the eventual number of deportees,” the briefing added.

A later note said the Georgian authorities had “been compliant and have completely cooperated” with all requests from the Department of Justice.

It said there were now thirty-one people in custody, which included one father while there was likely to be at least one family on the flight.

A note said: “There is one Georgian in custody on foot of criminal charges who is due for release [in June]. He is not planned to be on this charter as we have other candidates but if numbers drop, he can be put on.”

Officials added that there was another candidate with known medical issues who could also be taken back home if the number of people available to fly back began to fall.

“There are an additional eighty-four Georgians who are possibilities for this charter that are not included [so far],” the briefing said.

A Q&A was also prepared for Jim O’Callaghan in which he was told to prepare for questions on whether the mass deportations were just a “gimmick.”

If asked about that, the minister was advised to say: “It is important that people understand that the government has the capacity, as well as the will, to maintain the integrity of the immigration system by removing people who do not have a right to be here.”

Another question considered likely from journalists was whether it was a “good use of garda time.”

If asked that, the suggested answer for Mr O’Callaghan was: “Yes, it is. Deportations must be done safely and with respect for the dignity of the people being deported.”

The flight eventually took off in late February with 32 Georgian nationals aboard; a further separate charter deportation operation taking 39 people to the same country happened late last month.

Asked about the briefing documents, a spokesman said: “The department has no further comment. “The documents released show the extensive work underway in the department to increase the number of deportations. They also show the level of preparation that goes into each charter flight.”

The Seanad election count cost Leinster House more than €200,000 with Oireachtas staff paid more than €96,000 including weekend and overtime payments.

The Oireachtas said employee costs for their work on the election came to more than €110,000 which included around €13,600 in indirect costs for ushers, catering, and tech experts.

A separate sum of €96,734 was paid directly to twenty-five staff involved in counting votes, with the figure inflated significantly by the Bank Holiday weekend it took place on.

The Oireachtas said the Seanad election count ended up taking five days due to a unique set of rules that are characterised by their “complexity.”

They said twenty-five of their staff had been on hand to work on opening ballot boxes, sort and distribute votes, count, and calculate the final results.

An information note said counting began on Thursday 30 January and ran all the way through to the following Bank Holiday Monday on February 3.

They said: “An election count payment was made to all election count staff for each of the five days worked. The payment reflected that the count was conducted over a bank holiday weekend.”

Leinster House ran up almost €93,000 in other costs for the vote, which included €8,800 worth of printing and postal charges of €22,500.

A pre-election request for funding to the Department of Public Expenditure said this included a huge operation mailing material to local authorities, nominating bodies, as well as sending ballot papers and return postage.

A further €11,400 was spent on legal advice with a senior counsel on hand throughout the count to offer guidance, according to records.

The funding application said the fee quoted for legal services was “€1,850 per day plus VAT [at] 23 percent.”

“Charge for 2020 was €1,750 plus VAT,” said a note from the returning officer.

The Oireachtas also spent €26,000 on livestreaming services saying there was big demand for people to watch proceedings online.

A request to part-fund the livestream said it would be a “valuable contribution to … public service objectives” and that the count centre in the member’s restaurant was limited in size.

A letter from the Seanad Returning Officer Martin Groves said: “[The] room is relatively small and access to the count centre will be significantly more restrictive than would be the case for Dáil, local and other elections.”

His letter said the count had been livestreamed in 2020 for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic and there were 28,000 people who watched via the web page with 49,000 views on social media.

“I believe that these figures indicate a significant public interest in the Seanad election that goes well beyond those with a direct personal interest in the proceedings,” correspondence from Mr Groves in January said.

Other bills included €817 in taxi fares for count staff, €6,120 in catering costs, audio services with a bill of €12,769, and outsourced sign language interpretation that cost €3,998.

Asked about the expenditure, the Oireachtas said they had no further comment to make.

A project to turn an old work depot into tea rooms at a park in one of the country’s wealthiest suburbs ended up costing almost 25 per cent more than budgeted.

Dublin City Council said the final bill for the conversion work at Palmerston Park, located next to some of the most expensive houses in the city, was almost €683,000.

The original contract amount for the project in Dartry was €556,000 but unforeseen extra costs arose after work began.

Dublin City Council said two existing floor slabs had to be broken out while the foundations for existing external walls were not strong enough and needed underpinning.

The local authority said there were other problems with the walls and that work on additional kerbs, drainage and site clearance also took place.

They said some savings were made by reducing the scale of a gravel area beside the new tearooms and a reduction in the number of parasols provided.

An information note said: “Other design changes to items like lighting fittings, metalwork (tapping rails), security (protection cages) and external entrance mats have also been implemented.

“Finally, significant additional soft landscaping works have been added to the works.”

The council said that the conversion of the depot at the historic park included a dining area, a serving area, storerooms, toilets, and other facilities.

They said that “unforeseen existing building structural issues” had added around €30,000 to the bill and only became evident when work began.

A note said: “These included the very unusual situation where the walls were built on top of the floor slab, which then had to be cut back, the walls underpinned and additional supports to the foundations.”

It said the work also meant the initial plan to insulate the building would not work and that a more expensive option was chosen instead.

“The upside to this was that the building achieved an impressive A3 BER rating from B1 BER rating preconstruction … [what this] means is lower fuel costs and significantly less CO2 emissions,” the council said.

They said landscape works had accounted for an extra €80,000 in costs with only a basic level provided for in the original pricing.

Their information note said: “The increase in cost included for a full planting scheme plus twelve months maintenance in and around the tearooms, drainage, Wicklow granite kerbing and associated works.

“[This] was justified given the historic nature of the park and the need to use quality materials.”

The council said miscellaneous extra costs accounted for €17,000 while there were delay claim accounts of around €6,000.

Asked about the project, Dublin City Council said they had nothing further to add.

A government paper on the use of pepper spray in jails warned that some prisoners would become more violent and that it should not be used on crowded landings, on females, or inmates with mental health issues.

The paper was prepared by the Department of Justice against the backdrop of an overcrowding crisis and an increase in violence in Irish prisons.

It said there was a case for incapacitant spray and that prison officers in Ireland were “unique” among European jailers in not being allowed to carry “defensive weapons or compliance tools.”

The State Claims Agency – which manages compensation on behalf of the government – advised spray could be used by appropriately trained personnel in the right circumstances.

It said their research showed it caused no long-term health effects and that its use by gardaí had not led to any claims for damages despite being deployed over 1,000 times a year.

However, the State Claims Agency said it was not without risk and after it was introduced, it could lead to an increase in “use of force incidents.”

The policy paper said: “Where it is deployed too soon or too often this can have a detrimental effect on prisoners’ perceptions of legitimate authority.”

It said the use of spray would not work in every situation and that around ten percent of people would be unaffected, and some would become “more rather than less aggressive.”

The research also said prisoners would try to prepare for its use against them when planning a violent act.

“Prisoners, in planned violence incidents, will try to protect against it and/or mitigate the impact of the spray,” said the paper.

The document said the Irish Prison Service would need to have a significant additional governance procedure for managing incidents.

This would include healthcare for staff and prisoners as well as monitoring, debriefing, and secure storage of spray.

It added: “There are definite limitations on its use in certain circumstances: in crowded public areas; on female prisoners; on pregnant prisoners; in cases of passive resistance; on prisoners with mental health issues; on prisoners when at a height.”

The policy paper was prepared last autumn with then Minister Helen McEntee giving the go-ahead for use of incapacitant spray.

An accompanying submission said most jails were operating well above capacity with growing pressure from prison staff for personal protection.

An audit of an OPW-run scheme to support the arts found €2 million left idle in an account, projects where it was unclear whether they had started or finished, and financial transfers made for more than the artwork cost.

The internal audit said there were no proper documented procedures for the scheme while funding intended for one project ended up being spent on another.

The review of the Percent for Art scheme, a government initiative that sees 1 percent of the cost of all major state projects allocated to new art or acquisition of art, took place in May 2023.

The internal auditors said they could provide only “limited” assurance on its operation with a dozen adverse findings made about how it worked.

A copy of their report said: “Three of the ten [Percent for Art] balances were marked ‘project not yet commenced’, [yet] these projects were marked completed by the Estate Management Unit.

“This resulted in capital projects being completed but without artwork in the buildings.”

It said four were marked as “new art” even though the items had been bought and that the artwork cost less than the amount of money transferred for their purchase.

The internal audit said there were no final accounts on file for any of the projects reviewed and that a vacancy for a coordinator position had been left empty for three years.

The audit also found that more than €2 million had ended up in a suspense account with some of the money lying unspent for at least two years.

The report said: “There is a risk that Percent for Art funds are being held for too long.”

It explained how around €665,000 was left sitting in the account for two years while around €480,000 had been idle for between three and five years.

A review also took place of all infrastructure projects worth more than €500,000 where the art scheme would apply.

It found that there were 32 projects that were not in the OPW files which auditors said could lead to an “inconsistent application” of the guidelines.

The OPW told the internal auditors that the scheme had been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, which made work challenging from 2020 to 2022.

They said: “Projects generally could not be progressed during this time due to Covid restrictions that affected construction works and access to sites for art assessment purposes.

“Art galleries were also closed for much of this time; this restricted purchasing opportunities for artworks.”

Asked about the report, a spokeswoman for the OPW said they took a strategic approach to managing the scheme with funding ring-fenced to “ensure the most cost-effective use of resources.”

She said: “In some cases, there are site-specific art commissions and in others, budgets are pooled to facilitate collaboration with stakeholders, or to provide buildings with artworks from the State Art Collection.”

Twenty-six landlords, companies, or investment firms paid local property tax (LPT) for ownership of more than 500 houses or apartments last year.

Revenue data show a small number of property owners paying upwards of €300,000 each for vast portfolios of real estate.

The figures show that just twenty owners paid €6.5 million in LPT in 2024 to cover liabilities for 19,900 separate properties.

On average, the top twenty paid around €325,000 each for portfolios with 995 houses or apartments on their books.

Overall, in 2024, nearly 1.5 million owners paid LPT for 1.88 million properties right across the country.

The overwhelming majority of people – 1,314,984 owners – had just a single property, usually their main family home.

There were 167,676 individuals or entities that had between two and five properties and 6,189 that owned between six and nine houses or apartments.

A total of 2,610 people paid LPT for between 10 and 24 properties while 440 paid tax on between 25 and 49 homes.

The Revenue figures also showed that 186 individuals, companies, or entities had property tax liability for 50 to 99 houses or apartments.

A further 80 paid LPT for ownership of between 100 and 199 properties while 33 held between 200 and 299.

There were eleven property owners who had between 300 and 399 houses or apartments on their books, according to the data.

A small number, less than ten, owned between 400 and 499 properties but Revenue would not disclose the figure saying it could identify individuals given the small number involved.

Twenty-six individuals, companies and entities had to pay LPT on over 500 properties each.