The Office of Public Works has been deemed “the office of posh walls” after it emerged that the government agency spent €490,000 in taxpayer cash replacing a wall around a government office.
The Office of Public Works (OPW) has come under fire for the spending, just months after the Leinster House Bike Shed scandal. Just this week, it emerged that the embattled agency commissioned an audit report on the €336,000 project, cashing out €25,000 on consultants to give value-for-money tips in the wake of the scandal. Prior to that, there was heated discussion over its spending of €1.4 million on a security shelter at Government Buildings.
But now it has found itself embroiled in controversy again over the almost half a million euros spent on replacing an unsafe wall at the Workplace Relations Commission HQ. It is understood that delays to the project meant costs soared to twice as much as originally projected.
Opposition TD, Aontú leader Peadar Toibín, dubbed the agency the “Office of Posh Walls” on social media, tweeting: “The government spent €490,000 for a wall that is shorter than the width of a football pitch.
“That’s €7,000 per metre. The Office of Posh Walls needs to be investigated now.”
A live ESB cable and a leaking pipe discovered under the perimeter wall during preliminary works meant long delays and unforeseen costs, meaning that around €240,000 was spent on demolition of the wall and rebuilding, the Irish Independent reports. The works began at the Lansdowne House in 2021, but ran into the difficulties in October 2022.
It wasn’t until mid-2023 that the ESB removed the cable, and work on the actual wall only recommenced in December 2023. Early in 2024, the contractor discovered a section of live electrical cable near where the works were being carried out. When they contacted ESB, the electricity board said that this wasn’t part of the original work and so would require a new application for removal or rerouting.
It was at this point that the OPW builders decided it would be faster to hire a specialist contractor meaning work could recommence on the construction of the wall. It then transpired in August last year that the reconfiguration and building of the wall had left a shortfall of around 750 blocks of a special type needed.
Furthermore, the delays around the process caused frustration within the Workplace Relations Commission, which lost a significant amount of parking spaces.
Former election candidate Derek Blighe took to X in reaction to the news, writing: “As a self employed bricklayer with 27 years work behind me, that wall costs 30 grand all in, Labour/materials. MAX.”
“If Ireland had a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) rather than spendthrift lifers, this wouldn’t happen,” X user @Flyck66 wrote.
Others dubbed the move “insane and infuriating.”
“500k for a few metres of wall and I can’t afford to buy a decent one bed apartment,” another user wrote.
Others tagged X tycoon Elon Musk, with one person writing: “We need DOGE here please. From bicycles to sheds, etc” in reference to the temporary organisation established as a government department under the new Trump administration. Musk has been charged with leading the cost-cutting mission, with the billionaire vowing to cut regulations, spending and headcounts to ensure a “more efficient government.”