An independent report commissioned by the OPW has said there was no value-for-money assessment before work began on Leinster House's infamous €336k bicycle shed.

According to the report by Deloitte, the Office of Public Works (OPW) did not tell the Oireachtas what the shelter would cost.

Newstalk’s Political Correspondent Seán Defoe told The Hard Shoulder this seemed to be typical protocol for the OPW.

“So, there’s been a number of these projects that popped up and essentially it looks as though for none of those was any value-for-money assessment done,” he said.

“There was an element of this as well where there basically doesn’t say within the OPW project management plan how those capital projects with less than €500,000 should be overseen.

“There’s very clear guidelines and a very clear value-for-money project to be done for anything over half a million euro, but for under it, it’s something of a wild west, is essentially what this report is saying.”

The newly constructed bike shelter at Leinster House, 04-09-2024. Image: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews

According to Seán, “the most remarkable thing” revealed in the report is that the Dáil bike shed was actually under budget.

“In April 2023, there was an estimated cost of €350,000 from the OPW,” he said.

“At no point did the OPW communicate that estimated cost to the house of the Oireachtas, and at no point did the houses of the Oireachtas think to ask, ‘How much is this thing we’re building out the back actually going to cost?’

“So, it could have been €14,000 more.”

Seán said that while the OPW seems to have accepted all recommendations made by the report, the circumstances surrounding the Dáil bike shed look like "just a blatant disregard for care for money”.

Main image: 04/09/2024 Dublin, Ireland. Photo shows the newly constructed bike shelter at Leinster House, which cost €336,000. Photograph: Sasko Lazarov / © RollingNews.ie