Dail printer that cost €808k was too big to fit inside office

THE purchase of a printer that did not fit in the Oireachtas occurred in the same year as €8m in extra technology costs that were described as a “significant overspend”.

The Dail’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is set to investigate the buying of an €808,000 Komori printer which required walls to be torn down to house it in a building on Kildare Street at an estimated additional cost of €236,000.

Oireachtas officials reportedly miscalculated the measurements needed to fit the machine into printing rooms.

The Irish Times also outlined an industrial relations dispute with staff, who say training is required to operate the machine and that they should be paid for this. Fianna Fail TD Marc MacSharry said the PAC would raise questions about the printer, claiming the issues surrounding the measurements suggested “basic incompetence”. In reference to the industrial dispute, he said: “If the printing machine was bought without adequate consultation with staff, that’s a problem.”

Peter Finnegan, secretary general of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, appeared before the

PAC earlier this year where he was quizzed by Sinn Fein TD David Cullinane on how the estimated spend on office equipment and external IT services in 2018 was €14.6m but the out-turn was €22.7m.

Mr Finnegan said this was because there was funding available at the end of a threeyear budgetary cycle.

Mr Cullinane suggested it was a “significant overspend” and asked for a detailed breakdown.

An Oireachtas spokesperson said the extra €8m for technology in 2018 was “not an overspend” and was “separate sanctioned expenditure” for the controversial printer.