In the days following the revelation that the eye-watering sum of €339,000 had been spent on a bike shelter for Leinster House, an eagle-eyed commentator spotted something he said was hiding in plain sight.
As Ministers hid behind the need for an inquiry as a reason to avoid answering plainly in regard to who had authorised the lavish shed expenditure and who had actually built it, lawyer Nick Delehanty laid out his case in a thread on X that promptly went viral, eventually garnering more than a million views.
The mystery of the contractor, Delehanty said, was solved by a photo from the grounds of the Dáil when the shed was being built which showed workers wearing clothing emblazoned with the logo of Sensori Facilities Management.
If the name rang a bell, that was, as he pointed out, because the founder of Sensori had been revealed to have had an “exceptionally controversial relationship” with Minister Paschal Donohoe.
The controversy arose because Donohue had not declared that Michael Stone (who then headed up engineering Designer Group) paid for workers and vans for postering for the Minister in the 2016 and 2020 election campaigns. The expenses had not been declared to the Standards in Public Office Commission.
Donohue and Stone are friends, and attended each others weddings.
It then emerged that Designer Group had received €67.5m in state contracts between 2018-2023, including a “lucrative contract” for work on the State Laboratory and Forensic Science Ireland campus and contracts for maintenance and electrical work at the Department of Health, Finance and Housing.
The figures were released following a parliamentary question to the Department of Public Expenditure by Independent TD Mattie McGrath, who had sought details of contracts secured by the Designer Group since 2017.
Sensori was founded as a new joint venture between Sisk and Designer Group FM in October 2019. Michael Stone was a director until January 2022 according to the Companies Registrations Office.
Delehanty points out that in September 2021, the OPW updated details of a €40,000,000 tender for a “Multiparty Framework Contract” aimed at delivering maintenance and minor building works across the Greater Dublin Region.
In December 2021, Sisk announced its intent to fully buy out Sensori from Stone’s control, netting Stone’s Designer Group €17 million in the sell-off.
In June 2022, Sensori FM was one of two companies awarded the OPW contract valued at up to €40 million.
It was confirmed by Chair of the OPW, John Conlon, who gave evidence before the Oireachtas Finance Committee this week, that the bike shed project had been further outsourced by the Sensori Facilities Management.
Delehanty was right: Sensori was the ultimate contractor for the infamous bike shed. And yesterday, Peadar Tóibín TD added some additional information to the pile.
“Paschal Donohoe is now the Minister for Public Expenditure, and the OPW falls under the remit of Minister Donohoe’s Department,” Tóibín noted.
He also added that: “We know that on 12 November 2021 Paschal Donohoe, now Minister for Public Expenditure (under which the OPW falls) held a one-on-one meeting with Michael Stone. We know this from an entry in the Minister’s Diary at noon on that date. We don’t know what was discussed at this meeting.”
We know that on 12 Nov 2021 Paschal Donohoe, now Minister for Public Expenditure (under which the OPW falls) held a one-on-one meeting with Michael Stone. We know this from an entry in the Minister’s Diary at noon on that date. We don't know what was discussed at this meeting.
— Peadar Tóibín TD (@Toibin1) September 26, 2024
7/ pic.twitter.com/Q7abzs9AtT
He says: “A few weeks later Stone’s company sold their share of Sensori for €23 m – which rounds off at a profit of €17m. I suspect that the value of the share went up because the group was listed in the OPW’s framework as likely destined for future contracts.”
Tóibín says he raised these matters at the Oireachtas Finance committee meeting this week under Parliamentary Privilege, but the chair of the committee cautioned him and said that the Minister was not there to defend himself.
“I have submitted a series of parliamentary questions to Minister Donohoe who has in turn forwarded them to the OPW for response. The Minister has not fulfilled his constitutional duty to respond to my question. The OPW is likewise stonewalling me,” he claimed.
“The chair of the OPW who was testifying before the committee yesterday said that he had furnished the Minister with a copy of the bike shelter review before he submitted it to the committee.” the Aontú leader said.
Today, Mr Tóibín told Gript that the ongoing controversy was a matter of serious public concern, and that the public had a right to know what was discussed at the November 2021 meeting. “These are questions that require answers, and we cannot allow the public to be stonewalled,” he said.
He said he had asked the Minister for Public Expenditure the following questions:
1. Were there any minutes taken of the meeting that the Minister had with Michael Stone on the 12th of November 2021.
2. Was there anyone else at that meeting?
3. Will the Minister detail the dates, attendees and the minutes of all the meetings that he had with Michael Stone for the duration of his time as a Minister?
4. When did the Minister become aware that Sensori was tendering for the OPW Measured Term Maintenance Contract?
5. Was the Sensori tender discussed by the Minister during that meeting or at any other time with Michael Stone or anyone else connected with Sensori?
6. Does the Minister have any hard copy communication, emails, texts, whats app, Social Media DMs or voice mails containing any communication with Michael Stone or any staff or representative from Sensori? If so will he make it available for public scrutiny?
7. How did the Minister communicate with Michael Stone, other than in person?
8. As Minister for Finance did the Minister have any communication at all with the then Minister for Public Expenditure, the then Minister for the OPW or any one within those departments on the issue of the OPW Measured Term Maintenance Contract? If so will the Minister make that communication available?
9. To ask the Minister, the date upon which the OPW entered a tender process with Sensori and when did the OPW officially awarded the Measured Term Maintenance Contract to Sensori and PJ Hegarty?
10. Will the Minister give a list of the contracts that were awarded above the €1m Measured Term Maintenance Contract ceiling and will he detail to whom they were awarded to and why was the ceiling breached?
11. Will the Minister detail what contracts have Sensori, Designer Group or Sisk ever won with state?
12. What were the processes for the appointment of board members to the board of the LDA? Was Michael Stone appointed by former Minister Eoghan Murphy or did he go through the same appointment processes as other members?
13. Have Sensori, Designer Group or Sisk ever been awarded a contract through the LDA?
In the meantime, this representation of the much-maligned bike shed may be what remains in the public’s memory.
The new €335,000 bike shed at Leinster House looks pretty impressive. pic.twitter.com/ZdCwQvYGIr
— Urban Celt (@CeltUrban) September 2, 2024