Latest news with #OPW
Irish Times
11 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
OPW spent €17,000 on consultants for committee hearings, more than any other State body
The Office of Public Works ( OPW ) spent more on external consultant advice preparing for Oireachtas committee hearings last year than any other State body or government department has since 2021, according to new data. The total spend of €17,211 came as the OPW faced rolling controversies over the €336,000 Dáil bike shed, the €1.4 million security hut at the Department of Finance and a €490,000 bill for rebuilding a wall outside the Workplace Relations Commission . Figures released to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly show that in total, public bodies spent €155,532 to outside firms helping to prepare them for visits to Oireachtas committees between 2021 and earlier this month – with a handful of consultancies getting the lion's share of the spending. The OPW outlay was the highest single-year spend by any body covered by the data released. It was split between two communications specialist firms – €3,731 for RGH Consultancy and €13,480 for Gibney Communications. RGH Consultancy is led by Gerard Howlin, who is an Irish Times contributor. READ MORE Mr Farrelly said he was not surprised to see the OPW top of the list given the controversies it has faced. He criticised the use of outside consultants, saying: 'The witnesses are all seasoned officials and should be well able to respond openly to elected representatives without third-party interventions.' The OPW faced four committee hearings in 2024 – three of which occurred after the cost of the bike shed emerged in September. The OPW said in a statement that it has a wide remit and an annual budget of €700 million, dealing with a large volume of projects across flood-relief management, heritage and managing 2,500 State properties. It said staff appearing at committees 'are expected to succinctly address a wide range of topics, including all information relating to the OPW's expenditure, as well as detailed accounts of the significant variety of projects under its remit'. The OPW said the spend was on 'communication support' for staff appearing before committees rather than assisting with further queries or correspondence. The next highest annual cost for external advice was for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER), which purchased general training from PR firm The Communications Clinic to the value of €16,950 in 2022 – although this covered training for officials from other departments as well. The OPW also had some of the highest bills in previous years, including another €9,610 to Gibney Communications and €610 to RGH Consultancy in 2022 – again for general training. Overall, it spent €28,489 on external consultants, making it one of the highest-spending bodies overall, as well as having the single most expensive year. DPER had the highest overall spending across the period covered by the data, spending €31,220 in total – although again, some of that picked up the tab for civil servants in other departments. Horse Racing Ireland spent €12,950 for advice in advance of visits to the Public Accounts Committee and agriculture committees, with consultancy firms Teneo and Vulcan Consulting, led by former minister for European affairs Lucinda Creighton , providing services. Pobal , the social inclusion agency, spent €12,764 preparing to face TDs and senators, all to Dublin firm MKC Communications across 2021-2024. Pobal said the work related to four committee appearances covering training for nine senior managers and strategic preparation for the hearings. Meanwhile, the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman spent €10,612 preparing for various committees in 2023 and 2024. The data show that two firms accounted for the majority of the spend by state bodies preparing to visit Leinster House committee rooms: Gibney Communications, which was paid a total of €46,902 across the period concerned, and The Communications Clinic, which was paid €51,254.
Extra.ie
3 days ago
- Politics
- Extra.ie
The bizarre reason why restoration of Rathfarnham Castle has taken 30yrs
Restoration works at one of the country's oldest examples of Elizabethan-era grandeur will take another two years at least – because the weather hasn't been right. In a statement read into the Dáil record, the Office of Public Works (OPW) said it anticipates that it will now complete the restoration of the facade of Dublin's Rathfarnham Castle in 2027. The OPW had been under fire recently for its costly and delayed projects including at the Workplace Relations Commission in Ballsbridge, Dublin, which resulted in a 70 metre stretch of low wall outside the building costing €490,000 to complete. The beleaguered agency, which also oversaw the building of the now infamous €336,000 Dáil bike shed, has been engaged in a restoration project at Rathfarnham Castle for three decades. This month the OPW admitted that the promised completion of render to the front of Rathfarnham Castle which had been promised by this summer, will now take at least another two years. Rathfarnham Castle. Pic: Sean Dwyer The issue was raised by the Fianna Fáil TD John Lahart who asked OPW Minister Kevin 'Boxer' Moran why, having been told in 2024 that the job of restoring the frontage of the castle would be finished in 2025, the OPW was now saying the job wouldn't be completed until 2027. The minister replied the exterior of the castle is showing signs of wear and tear and needs to be finished with a substance called lime harling, to be restored to its former glory. However, Mr Moran said he had been advised by the OPW that the 'problem with lime harling is that there is a short seasonal window, along with weather conditions, in which the lime harling finish can be applied and these works are not expected to take place until 2027'. Mr Lahart asked why 2027 was the new date, given that in 2024 he had been told 'a weather window would be required to carry out the works and the works would be carried out in 2025'. The beleaguered agency, which also oversaw the building of the now infamous €336,000 Dáil bike shed, has been engaged in a restoration project at Rathfarnham Castle for three decades. He said: 'The warm weather window has well and truly been with us for the past four or five months. Now, the Minister of State is saying the works will be carried out in 2027. What has changed?' In reply the minister said: 'To be honest, I can't say.' Mr Moran noted that funds have been allocated to undertake this project, with a senior architect assigned to oversee the design and completion. The minister also assured the Fianna Fáil TD that he would not let the matter rest, saying 'I will pursue it because I fell in love with the castle when I went there. It is a fabulous facility.' Rathfarnham Castle was built in 1583 and has been owned by Archbishop Adam Loftus, the founder of Trinity College, 18th century politician Speaker Conolly, and the Jesuit Order. The castle is one of Elizabethan houses. It was declared a national monument and purchased by the State from the Jesuits in 1987. Responding to this latest delay, Mr Lahart told this week: 'The OPW appear to exist in a different time zone to the ordinary citizen, where one year in citizen time is three years in OPW time. Fianna Fáil TD John Lahart. Pic: RTÉ One 'The castle is a critical social and cultural asset and yet the driest summer on record does not apparently provide them with the three decades-long job. Apparently, even climate change cannot speed up the OPW.' Elsewhere, the OPW is also embroiled in a row with locals in Co. Kildare over Castletown House. Last year, it proposed a new entrance and car park to the popular estate near the village of Celbridge but locals objected. In response, some locals have been maintaining a protest at the entrance to the Castletown estate for 11 months. The site has been open to the public for the past three decades but over the past year the row has bitterly divided the Co. Kildare town.
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Health
- Irish Independent
Anti-vaccine campaigner Dolores Cahill urged to sell her castle to community
Ms Cahill, an anti-vaccine campaigner during the pandemic, bought White's Castle by the River Barrow for €450,000 in 2019 when she was chairperson of the Irish Freedom Party. She had planned to turn the 16th-century castle into a centre for political talks and events. However, she resigned from the party days after hosting a St Patrick's week gathering at the castle for an estimated 75 guests in March 2021 at the height of the Covid lockdown. A garda investigation led to several people being fined for 'non-essential travel'. The tower house needs repairs, with cracks found in the walls and the roof and battlements in need of immediate attention, local councillors have been told. Historian and former councillor Frank Taffe held 'preliminary discussions' with Ms Cahill late last year with a view to her selling the property. 'I made it very clear that it should be in public ownership, either the OPW, Clare County Council or the civic trust,' he said. 'We had agreed that we would have further discussions. 'She was prepared to discuss it, but there was no decision made. There was no indication that she would be able to transfer it or sell it.' Mark Leigh, a Labour Party councillor who helped found the Athy Civic Trust, said the organisation is working towards buying back the castle. 'It would be the wish of the people of Athy, of all the historical societies, and all the community groups that the castle comes back into the ownership of the people of Athy,' he said. Ms Cahill claimed children who wore face masks would have a lower IQ because of a lack of oxygen Land registry documents list Ms Cahill and John O'Brien as the registered owners since January 2020. Before that, it was sold for €1.3m in 2005 and went on sale in 2012 for €195,000. Ms Cahill was a professor at the UCD School of Medicine and chair of the Freedom Party when she began advocating against the government's strict public health guidelines on mask-wearing and social gatherings during the pandemic. She left her role as professor of translational science at the university in 2021 after students protested about her pronouncements on the Covid-19 virus. Ms Cahill claimed children who wore face masks would have a lower IQ because of a lack of oxygen and was fined for holding an anti-lockdown protest in London in 'flagrant breach' of restrictions. She is suing UCD and the university's governing board in the High Court. In a separate case, she issued legal proceedings this month against the Protected Disclosures Commissioner, the Health Products Regulatory Authority and the State. She was recently associated with the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which has listed her online as 'chief justice of the Sovereign Republic of Eire'. She is billed as co-host of the Weekend Truth Festival in Cumbria next month. The event will cover topics such as the campaign against 5G technology and the legal system.
Irish Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Getting to Ireland's UNESCO treasure Skellig Michael was like a Star Wars saga
There's a case to be made that Maureen Sweeney was the most important Irish person in history. If you don't know, Maureen was the Kerry weather woman who won the war. Her innate west of Ireland grasp of isobars and wind directions saved the D-Day landings from being one of history's most spectacular military catastrophes. Without Maureen's weather forecast from Blacksod Bay in Co Mayo in June 1944, the invasion and liberation of Europe would have crashed and burned and, as the gag goes, we'd all be speaking German. If we were, we would probably be speaking a lot about 'Das Wetter' appropriately enough - or the Weather if you prefer. It's our one true national conversation. And recently it has become my mild obsession and the reason I found myself sitting in a Killarney hotel room earlier this month channelling my inner Maureen Sweeney. In recent weeks I had become a citizen forecaster, looking up wind speeds, 'falling slowly' pressure systems and high tides. The madness is fuelled by another slight obsession. In the morning I'm due to embark on my fourth attempt to set foot on Ireland's mystical national treasure island, Skellig Michael. The Skelligs have long held an allure. The two islands form the jagged edge of Europe and are among the most breathtaking landscapes on earth. Skellig Michael also has a rich human story dating back over a thousand years to a group of mad monks who somehow decided it was the perfect place to build one of the most unlikely settlements in human history. A modern equivalent might be setting up home on Pluto. The islands also provide a sanctuary for 80,000 gannets and a haven for one of nature's rock stars, the Puffin. A puffin guards its nest on Skellig Michael (Image: Irish Mirror) For centuries their mystique has captured the imagination of poets, artists, storytellers and moviemakers. Most recently as a location in the Star Wars saga. But if the monks found it hard to get there in the 6th century, my own pilgrimage has honoured their perseverance - not to mention the islands' recent movie heritage. Episode I: In 2017 a first attempt fell foul of a ticket sellout. Just 180 people can land on Skellig a day from May to September. Episode II: Last summer we stayed for three days in the village of Portmagee, the gateway to the Skelligs, our landing tickets secured well in advance. But on the morning of our departure a two-metre Atlantic swell made docking on the small island jetty treacherous. We headed out in hope but by the time we crossed the 12 kilometres to Skellig Michael the OPW had closed the island. Episode III: Having booked again this summer I opened my email inbox one morning to see I had been snared in the phantom menace of a High Court injunction. My boat operator was one of two that had been refused a licence for the season, sparking a legal battle which stopped all access for several weeks. Episode IV: Not to be deterred, I rebooked with a company that did have a licence. The court injunction eventually lifted like an Atlantic front. And so now here I was sitting in a Killarney hotel room ready to embark in a few hours. Then another email landed. It darkly warned of a high tide that meant the OPW was leaving any decision on opening the island until 10am tomorrow.. Following a restless night's sleep I awoke to grey skies and sheets of west Kerry rain. I drove the 75 minutes to Portmagee but about 10 minutes out another e-mail dropped: 'Unfortunately today's landing tour has been cancelled by the OPW as conditions at the island are not good enough for visitors.' Skellig Michael (Image: PA Photo/Nick McAvaney) With a mood as black as the rain I parked and strolled down to the harbour to look uselessly at the boats. By chance, or fate, the boatman from my cancelled crossing was also there. He looked disconsolate too. If cancelled crossings are frustrating to tourists, they can be existential to those whose livelihoods depend on them. But when he discovered I was a 'party of one' he brightened and said, 'I've one spare seat tomorrow and looking at the forecast we will 100 percent be going, do you want it?' One hundred percent eh? By now I had learned that was no such thing when playing poker with the Atlantic. A quick conflab back to my Killarney HQ confirms the other half has no problem spending another day in the spa or around the town. So I book again for the next day. Episode V. Later that evening I've got mail again: 'Tomorrow's landing tour is… GOING AHEAD AS PLANNED (I added the Trumpian all caps). The following morning I am back on the road to Portmagee, casting anxious looks at the sky and the clock as I drive. Then, rounding a Ring of Kerry bend outside Caherciveen, the traffic suddenly grinds to a halt. Garda checkpoint. I run through a quick panicked checklist to remind myself I'm not wanted by the law and haven't had a drink in about 12 hours. Irish island made famous by Star Wars is under attack by drones The bored Garda stares quizzically at the windscreen. 'Your tax?' 'Yeah?' 'It's two months out of date.' Now, to anyone who knows my approach to the 'to do' list, this is akin to Noddy Holder forgetting 'It's Christmas'. But somehow he's right. No tax. I laugh ruefully thinking he is going to impound me here 10 miles from my destiny. He must see the uncomprehending look on my face. In the manner of Obi Wan Kenobi, my air seems to persuade him I am not the lawbreaker he is looking for today. I'm sent on my way with the instruction to get it sorted. A short while later I'm back on the pier in Portmagee where the atmosphere has transformed since yesterday. Boatmen are busy checking equipment and tickets. Excited tourists from all across the globe are realising their numbers have come up in this little Skellig lottery. It is the first sailing in five days. And one of few at all so far this troubled season. We set out from the harbour and within minutes are past the shelter offered by the rugged Iveragh peninsula. After around 40 minutes the jagged beauty of the Small Skellig lies before us. OPW reveal its most popular tourist attractions in Ireland The sky is dark with swooping gannets and furiously flapping puffins. It's an opera of natural sound that confirms you are now far from what Samuel Beckett called the 'fatuous clamour' of the world. A few minutes later our boat is bobbing in front of Skellig Michael itself -a shock of green vegetation on sheer cliffs after the blackness of its little sibling. Then, after several years and five attempts, just like that we are docked and ashore. We begin the pilgrims' climb up the 600 feet and 618 steps to the monastery which sits in the shelter of one of the island's two towering peaks. There is a climb of 618 steps to the monastery at the top of Skellig Michael (Image: Irish Mirror) Despite warnings, I've no difficulty with the arduousness of the climb. Mostly as it's impossible not to stop every three steps to take in the 360-degree beauty around you. There is also the distracting sense that the hills are literally alive. Inches from your face on the plunging slopes there are nesting puffins everywhere. And hidden beneath the defiant foliage that clings to the rock are their constantly cooing chicks. There are so many that the island surface literally seems to breathe and murmur. This stairway to the heavens that follows in the footsteps of the monks is not for the faint of heart. You will need your head for heights. At the dizziest spots there are some chain rails. But the steps most of the way are open on one side and the walls of the cliffs plunge away to the sea just feet away from where you step. I feel an unusual sensation, gratitude to the OPW for closing the island during yesterday's heavy rain. At the top, the first sight of the iconic beehive huts made famous by monks and movies appear as only the supporting cast to the extraordinary vista of the Atlantic, Small Skellig, the Blasket islands and Kerry beyond. Neil Leslie at Skellig Michael (Image: Irish Mirror) It's not hard to let your imagination conjure what those sixth century holy men might have felt. They surely thought here was a place close to the heavens. To their west was the edge of the known world, the horizon of God's own country. There are wild places and wonders that often disappoint some visitors. I've heard them at the Cliffs of Moher or the Giant's Causeway complaining: 'Is that it?' My own philosophy is that you sometimes need to sprinkle a little of the magic dust of your own imagination. To help the majesty of it all along with an inner sense of awe. But Skellig Michael does all the work itself. If you're not impressed by the sculpted beauty, or the epic ingenuity of its human story, or the wildlife…you may need to check yourself for a pulse. Later on the return to Portmagee I watch the rocky pyramid perfectly framed from the back of the boat like the end credit sequence in a movie. I feel no need for another episode. Once you visit somewhere like Skellig it stays visited. Like the monks who left their bones layered on top of the 385 million year old sandstone, you leave a little something of yourself behind too. And in exchange you take away a small part of that allure that brought you there. Something 'of the silence of which the universe is made' to quote that man Beckett again. The only sequel required now is a pint of Ireland's other UNESCO treasure at the Moorings Bar in Portmagee. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here
Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Irish Independent
Visitors under 18 can visit OPW heritage sites for free next month
Most of the more than 700 heritage sites managed by the OPW are free to all, however some carry an entry fee. Admission to those fee-paying sites will be free of charge for under-18s next month in an extension to a current scheme allowing free entry for under-12s. 'I am delighted to announce that all u18s will have free entry to OPW heritage sites this August, as part of a new pilot scheme, We are fortunate to have such incredible castles, monuments and historic properties across the country that are invaluable educational resources,' Minister of State for the OPW, Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, said. "I encourage all our young people to get out and explore their local heritage this summer. Our sites are the perfect backdrop to meet friends, explore a fascinating site and have a treat at the local cafe.' Sites that will be free for under-18s to visit next month include Roscrea Castle and Ormond Castle in Co Tipperary, the Blasket Centre in Co Kerry, and the Céide Fields in north Co Mayo, where there is still preserved evidence of Ireland's earliest farmers, dated to 3,500BC. Among the sites to visit in the capital are Dublin Castle and the Custom House Visitor Centre. There are just two exceptions to the free admission scheme for August – Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin and the Brú na Boinne Visitor Centre in Co Meath, famous for the Newgrange monument and Neolithic passage tombs. The OPW said the scheme will give young people 'the opportunity to explore and engage with their heritage during the summer period and ensure access for all, by removing financial barriers.'
