OPW to be quizzed on taxpayers’ €15.8m bill
THE Office of Public Works has rejected the claims of a former senior employee that it has wasted taxpayers’ money.
The charge was made by a senior valuer with the State’s property management agency in a letter to the Public Accounts Committee. The valuer, now retired, alleged “multi-million euro” overspends at the State’s property management agency.
In his letter to the PAC, sent last month but published last Friday, the valuer claimed he and a colleague calculated an over-expenditure of an estimated €30m in five high-value cases.
His claims coincide with a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General which found that the new headquarters the OPW rented for the Department of Health at the Miesian Plaza on Baggot Street lay empty for 17 months at a cost of €15.8m to the taxpayer.
In a statement issued this weekend, the OPW said it had “engaged in a lengthy process with the complainant” in an “open and transparent manner over a number of years” and “completely rejects claims” that there exists a culture of indifference or disregard for taxpayers’ money.
It said it manages one of the largest property portfolios in the State “in an effective and efficient manner” and provides “value for taxpayers’ money”.
OPW executives are scheduled to appear at the PAC next week to be questioned about the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report, and may also be asked about their former employee’s claims.
In his partially-redacted letter, the valuer said he and a colleague had previously raised concerns with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. They were later asked to submit a detailed report on some “high-value” property cases, which he submitted to the OPW last November, which the OPW forwarded to the Comptroller and Auditor General this year.
“The report concluded that, however, the underlying concern was undeniable evidence of significant waste of public monies (estimate €30m between the five cases studied),” the retired valuer wrote.
He alleged that “the current case under examination by the C&AG is only one of many examples of cases of wasteful expenditure/poor outcomes (some involving multi-million overspends), that have occurred”.
The OPW will be “insulated against the repercussions of poor/reckless financial decisions”, he claimed, adding that the “delivery of accommodation trumps cost savings every day because the Department of Finance will [continue to] fund each and every infraction, and insolvency is an impossibility”.
He “appealed” to the PAC to “take the opportunity to delve deeply into the forthcoming C&AG report and recommend radical change to Government on the matter of proper accountability for the management of the State’s property assets”.
PAC chairman Sean Fleming confirmed it would meet with the ex-OPW valuer in the coming weeks. OPW officials are to come before PAC and it is expected the issues in the letter will be discussed then.
Committee members Alan Kelly (Labour) and Catherine Connolly (Independent) said the letter contained “serious” and “significant” allegations.
Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) said: “The correspondence received alleging losses through alleged negligence, poor management and inaction of some €30m is a damning indictment of our system as it stands. ‘Lessons learned’ and the introduction of ‘improved new procedures’ is the inadequate mantra trotted out time and again in defence of such failings.”