Dáil Library ‘vanity project’ includes six new chairs at a cost of €15K
A PLANNED €5m revamp of the Dáil Library has been dismissed as ‘a vanity project’ as it emerged the makeover includes spending of almost €15,000 on six new chairs.
Under the plans, the old Oireachtas library will be replaced by a new reading room, called ‘The Duke’s Library’.
A new third Dáil chamber will also be built, which will host some debates and committee hearings with smaller attendances.
But the cost of the refurbishment is causing considerable unease among some of our elected representatives.
Documents seen by the Irish Mail on Sunday confirm the €5m makeover costs include spending of €281,186 on ‘room displays’ in the third Dáil
‘Money’s being frittered away on fripperies’
chamber, €30,705 on an ‘ambient’ microphone system and a further €25,300 for a ‘division bell’.
Plans to spend a combined €14,769 of taxpayers’ money on six luxury chairs in the new reading room are also included in a presentation by the Houses of the Oireachtas to the Dáil Reform Committee.
The presentation details spending on other furniture, including three coffee tables for €2,750 and a white sideboard cabinet which costs more than €2,500.
It also reveals the recurring costs of the revamped third Dail chamber based on an estimate of 102 days a year, will cost an annual €1,633,759.
While TDs and Senators will be able to enjoy the facility, several of our elected representatives have expressed concern at the costs involved.
Former Minister for Justice and Attorney General, Michael McDowell described the €5m cost of the overall project as ‘scandalous’, adding the project is ‘clouded in mystery and almost the subject of deception’.
Senator McDowell also hit out at the proposed design, saying it resembles ‘something out of IKEA’.
But another Dáil source pointed out: ‘Prices like this are a little out of the IKEA range; this is more like a sixstar hotel in Dubai.’
They added: ‘Why do we need all of this snazzy new furniture? Why do we not just use the perfectly good furniture that was in the library before? All we mostly want to do is read the local papers.’
Independent Senator Victor Boyhan also questioned the decision not to use existing ‘entirely adequate furnishing’ in the old library.
‘Why is taxpayers’ money being frittered away on fripperies like €2,500 chairs when an entirely adequate store of furnishings are left from the previous refurbishment of the Dáil Library?’ he asked.
‘The previous library had the most beautiful stucco ceiling, architecture and fireplaces. The furniture that was in it has been dispersed. I cannot say where the lamps, light standards, brass fittings, and lovely glazed globes are, but surely someone knows, and someone must be accountable.’
Senator Boyhan called on OPW Minister Patrick O’Donovan, whose department is responsible for maintaining the library, to intervene in the matter.
He told the MoS: ‘He [O’Donovan] is a custodian of this building, he is legally responsible for it. There must be a few chairs there [in the OPW].’
Another Dáil source said: ‘It is a vanity project for a small elite. The vast majority of TDs and Senators don’t want anything to do with it. The last thing they want is constituents asking about €2,500 chairs.’
In response to queries from the MoS, an Oireachtas spokesperson said: ‘No decision has been taken with regard to the refurbishment of either the Library Reading Room (the library) or the Duke’s Library.’
An OPW spokesperson issued an identical response to that of the Oireachtas above.