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Over €121k spent steel works for Leinster House bike shelter

The infamous Leinster House bike shelter cost €336,000
The infamous Leinster House bike shelter cost €336,000

More than €121,000 was spent on steel works as part of the construction of the infamous Leinster House bike shelter that cost €336,000.

The Oireachtas Commission which oversees the running of the house heard that the cost of granite was in the region of €45,000.

The Commission got a breakdown of a number of the costs from the chairperson of the OPW.

Surveying work amounted to €11,000 while the "outer work" on the shelter came in at €53,000.

VAT on the construction totalled more than €38,000 while other costs listed included "Dry Work" which cost around €30,000.

There was "Day Work" too that ran up a bill of more than €23,000.

The Commission also heard that the building of the shelter was hit by delays including a week's stoppage when the new Taoiseach was elected in April.

The OPW is now set to review its system that allows senior officials to sign off on spending under certain contracts of up to €500,000.

There had been calls for a breakdown of the cost of the bike shelter, following controversy after the cost of the project emerged.

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said the Office of Public Works had questions to answer over what he said was an "incredibly expensive" project, while Taoiseach Simon Harris said the expense was "inexcusable and inexplicable".

The deputy chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, Catherine Murphy, was among those to call on the OPW to provide a breakdown of all the costs associated with the construction of the shelter.