The €335k bike shed at Leinster House is “playing into the worst” of Irish stereotypes, according to a Green Party TD.
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member Mark Ó Cathasaigh says he’s “raging” over the expense and has requested a detailed breakdown of how the money was spent.
The shed, which holds 36 bikes, had €3,000 of its cost allocated to archaeological services, €11,000 to administrative fees, and €38,000 to VAT.
Speaking ahead of a Cabinet meeting this morning, Taoiseach Simon Harris described the cost as “extraordinary.”
“I think it is inexcusable and inexplicable, and I welcome the fact that my colleague, the minister, has demanded answers in relation to this, and I await that,” he said.
On Lunchtime Live today, Deputy Ó Cathasaigh said people are rightly angry.
“I’m raging about it; I think it plays into the worst type of stereotypes we have about Irish politics and Irish politicians, that we spend lavish money on things for our politicians,” he said.
“Meanwhile, we can’t get basic services in parts of the economy that we need.”
The Wicklow TD noted that a four-bed semi-detached home in Collins Avenue, a “really nice part of Waterford,” would also cost €335k.
“There is nobody who can convince me that the bike shelter we see on the grounds of Leinster House is worth that kind of money,” said Deputy Ó Cathasaigh.
“I think there are serious questions to be asked about value for money for the taxpayer, and I absolutely empathise with that frustration.”
George from Cork shared his frustrations with the show regarding the expense.
“We have record numbers of homeless,” he said.
“On top of that, a cover for a bicycle is nice, but I live in Skibbereen and there is no shelter over the bus stops here.
“You have the elderly, sick, and all the other people waiting for buses out in the pouring wind and rain, while when you get into Leinster House, you have a little place to park your bike in a rain-protected area.
“I understand [the need], but €335? – it’s lunacy.”
________________________________________________________________________________________________
📱 Have you downloaded the Newstalk app?
– Find the app in the Google Play store:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thisisaim.newstalk&hl=en_IE&gl=US
– Find the app via Apple: https://apps.apple.com/ie/app/newstalk-106-108-fm/id372643826
#️⃣ SUBSCRIBE to the Newstalk social channels:
– YOUTUBE | youtube.com/@Newstalkfm
– TWITTER | twitter.com/newstalkfm
– INSTAGRAM | instagram.com/newstalkfm/
– FACEBOOK | facebook.com/newstalkfm
– WEBSITE | https://www.newstalk.com/
🎧 PODCAST – listen at your leisure: newstalk.com/podcasts
– iTunes: search for Newstalk in your app!
– Spotify: search for Newstalk for our latest pods and news
– Or wherever you get your podcasts!
📱GET IN TOUCH WITH NEWSTALK
– WhatsApp: get in touch on 0871400106
39 Comments
The Dutch built a bike park for 2400 euro per bike. Our bill at Leinster House was 18,000 euro per bike. A Maire Antoinette moment for Irish politicians and their sense of indulgence.
Well, Harris did say something about being a disrupter. We have a government that has abandoned its citizens
This is Ireland,it's what we do 😂😂😂
They didn't charge half enough for it the Irish gomb…s will still be voting for them come election time.
Nobody will be held accountable same as the RTE saga where big pay offs are still being paid out.
Will the person who signed off on it be sacked, did they ask for it, no. Nothing will change. Government projects are notoriously overpriced. Incompetency at its highest
Knowing politicians they will remove it and replace the shed with a cheaper shed😂
A bike shelter for eighteen bikes, coincidentally the Green Party currently have twelve TD’s four Senators and two MLA’s. Just enough cover for each of their bicycles. Let’s hope the don’t get any more elected as the taxpayer would have to fund an extension to the Leinster House bicycle stand.
It's hilarious how governments parties talk like they're not in government.
GUBU strike again!
Sorry, but the notions of the government paying VAT on their own spending, especially for something for them. It's kind of like buying a can of Fanta for €2 and saying it cost €10 cus charged myself an extra €8, it's part of the same closed loop🤧
Bike shed 350 000 who cares ?? What about the illegal invaders at our post offices full of non national collecting benefits ow much does that cost taxpayers????
What we need is a REFUND!
Round the clock valuat
Amazing, who ever signed off on this still hasn’t been identified or named! They know who it is, this bs about an investigation and blah blah blah. Folks, they are laughing in our faces!!!
Once i heard green party …I'm out .
And looks like on windy rainy day your bike would still get wet😂.
OPW is 'a job for the boys'. There's no competition in terms of quotes tendered. There is a system of backhanders and agreements going on there for years. This is only the tip of the iceburg. This is how all OPW work is conducted across the country and the HSE are a dab hand at overpaying for construction projects because the attitude of people signing off on this is…'well it's not my money'.
Tony Soprano would be proud of these construction contracts!
Is that children's hospital built yet
Eamon Rayan and Green Party joke
Why is there a roof on it …. fear of political brain dilution ?
My wife and I paid 345k for 4 bed semi, three miles from Dublin. There's no way 18 bike stands and a roof costs a similar amount. Get whoever puts up bus shelters for Dublin Bus to put up six shelters, 3×2, and bury 18 lengths of bent hollow tube in the footings. Archaeological survey!? They're going calf deep, ffs. I don't imagine they'll find much beyond an Evening Press from 1987.
The Greens are driving this bike baloney, voters will only support politicians who are corrupt.
Note how she is backing the green politician
Charlie haughey is alive and kicking.😅
A couple both on sixty thousand per year can't afford a bike shed in Dublin 🤔
The guilty party will be held to the same level of accountability as neil/noel/niall Collins did
Jobs for the lads, again !
Is it made of gold.
Public accounts where nobody is ever held accountable……
If they check into this you will find someone in FINE GAEL OR FIANNA FÁIL OR THE GREENS have got a lot of our money for nothing.
This government is an absolute embarrassment and made up of the most disingenuous, incompetent, unreliable, treasonous people with mediocre education. The audacity of this government treating Irish people as 2nd class citizens with immigration a significant problem in our country. Then we are told that the taxpayers are not only funding these immigrants but our money is haemorrhaging in the most insecure and inexplicable ways, a mild she’s costing €336,000 for a bikeRACK! Not even a shed. Further more the tea boy and weasel Simon Frank Spencer Harris is pretending to be a world leader on the political stage and giving €35 million of Irish people’s money to Zelensky in Ukraine. This government HAS TO GO.
for that type of money its a orified bycycle shed
I am so proud of this construction – we FINALLY completed a wonderful building project, ON TIME and within budget. Compare this to the Taj Ma Harris [er I mean the Children's Hospital].. years and years late and billions over budget and STILL not finished and STILL in the WRONG PLACE.
THIS bike shed proves that the Irish ARE capable of learning from past mistakes. I hear, through the grapevine, that the OPW has been given the go ahead to re-open and renovate the public toilets that used to be all over Dublin – initial estimate for the 32 toilets is about 75 million Euro and the job should be completed by 2035 [so cross yer legs and hold it in!]
It does not matter what you accept or do not accept. Irish governance culture is a black box. Nobody knows what is really inside of it. Not even those running it.
I would love to know how much has been spent on scaffold on the Four Courts.
The scaffold is up and down for past 15 years .
As a builder I smell a rat .
IRELAND
Should stick its Chest Out in relation to the Bike Shed controversy & the Small Cost of € 335.000 for the said Shelter.
Don't the People of the Green & Misty Island not appreciated that its been Voted the Most Expensive Shelter throughout the Cosmos.
This the Talk of the GALAXY.
Now dear for YA.
Did I hear right?
In Irish English, is the plural of euro…euro?
Hard to believe.
Name and shame This will give connection and corruption 🙏😮
NOTHING WILL CHANGE or be done about it 🤬
It's like the printer they bought yrs ago for close to 800,000 and then realised it wouldn't fit into the room it was ordered for .Look at the Children's Hospital…and many others .
We're a JOKE 🤬🤬🤬🤬