Dáil’s €200k on external printing

...that’s on top of €2m wasted on still-unused printer

THE Houses of the Oireachtas spent almost €200,000 on external printing costs in the last three years, the Irish Daily Mail can reveal.

That is despite purchasing a state-of-the-art Komori GL429 printer in May 2018 – at a cost of €2million to the taxpayer – to allow it to internalise most of its printing requirements.

This printer became redundant after it was ‘too big’ to fit inside the room it was intended for. It has still yet to print a single page.

Costs obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that €55,453 was spent in 2018; a further €80,368 in 2019; and €41,229 between January and the end of October in 2020.

Staff in the printing facility of the Houses of the Oireachtas had begun training people on how to operate the state-of-the-art printer in March 2020.

However, the training was not completed due to the training provider being unable to travel from the UK as a result of Covid19 travel restrictions.

In December a fire broke out in Kildare House, where the printer is located. However, despite smoke billowing out from the print room, the printer was not damaged.

In December 2019, the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee examined the large spend and project mismanagement of the delivery of the printer, which was purchased in May 2018.

A report by Dáil clerk Peter Finnegan to the PAC in December 2019 outlined a breakdown of costs, showing that the main printing press cost €808,000. When VAT and other associated equipment such as guillotines and folding machines are accounted for the total bill came to €1.4million.

Before being installed, the printer was kept in storage for 11 months at a cost of €14,000 while construction works – which amounted to more than €314,000 – had to be commenced to fit it into the room.

The Office of Public Works also took the opportunity to carry out other ‘necessary works’ on the Kildare House building at the same time, which cost over €220,000.

In May 2018, the Oireachtas signed a deal to purchase the printer. Emails from a day before the deal was signed show OPW staff were tasked with installing the printer and the wrong size of it was communicated.

The error was only realised in August 2018 and resulted in ‘significant structural’ work being required to fit the printer inside the print room at Kildare House, located across from Leinster House on Kildare Street.

Despite the supplier Komori raising issues about the dimensions of the printer not matching those of the print room before the deal was signed, it was not addressed by Oireachtas staff.

An email between Oireachtas staff and architects from the OPW who were tasked with installing the printer, dated May 30, 2018 – the day before the contract to buy the printer was signed – shows that Oireachtas staff believed the printer was 2.1 metres high. Its actual height is 3.1 metres.

The 2019 report by Mr Finnegan to the PAC said that ‘absolutely no denying that a series of mistakes were made during the project’, and that the ‘mistakes arose from human error’.

Staff at the UK supplier Komori had raised concerns about the ceiling height in the designated room, however, this note was ‘missed by the evaluation team’, according to the report.

Mr Finnegan also defended the cost of the printer when he appeared before the PAC, saying: ‘The Oireachtas has a significant printing operation providing 18 million impressions per year.

‘Such an operation requires a large high-volume printing press. Based on the evidence reviewed, I am satisfied that the Komori Printing Press purchased is necessary and appropriate to meet the current and future needs in the Houses of the Oireachtas.’

Mr Finnegan told the PAC he was ‘firmly of the opinion that the business case for purchasing it is still sound’ and he also noted that the printer is €246,000 cheaper than the previous Heidelberg printers purchased in 2004. ‘As accounting officer for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, I must ensure that resources are used properly and value for money is achieved. I take these responsibilities very seriously,’ he said.

‘Mistakes arose from human error’