Staff will have to use a forklift to load paper in the controversial Oireachtas printer, which is going to cost significantly more than originally thought, according to Sinn Féin's David Cullinane.
He said the state-of-the-art Komori Printer is twice the size of any printer that staff have used before and there are "training issues" in relation to its use.
Mr Cullinane was speaking at a meeting of the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on a report sent by Clerk of the Dáil Peter Finnegan to the committee on the issues.
PAC chair Sean Fleming also clarified that building works needed to facilitate the new printer was €260,000, given VAT for construction was 13.5%. This brought the total cost to €1.629m.
Mr Cullinane said Mr Finnegan will have to appear before the committee because there are further questions that need answers.
Fianna Fáil's Marc MacSharry said: "This has been a total pig's ear."
He said the public sector, including politicians, were not being asked to account for their decisions.
"People are entitled to look for a head," Mr MacSharry said.
"We cannot have a level of autopilot that leads to waste and loss of money which is down to pure incompetence. There is nothing complex about this at all. It is basic cop on. No university degree required, no masters, no PhD, just simple cop on."
Mr Cullinane said: "We still, in my view, do not have the full costs, there may be more costs.
"There are no HR issues with the staff in relation to the operation of this printer, there are training issues.
"It is twice the size of any printer staff have used before. They actually have to use a forklift in a very tight space to load up the paper."
The governing body that oversees the running of the Oireachtas will discuss the purchase of the printer next week.
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Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy, who is a member of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, said the issue will be raised at next week's meeting because "some of the information would not have been fully appreciated or declared" when it was discussed in the past.
The commission includes a number of TDs, the Ceann Comhairle, as well as Mr Finnegan, and is the governing body that oversees the running of the Oireachtas.
Ms Murphy told the PAC that a management board developed the business case for the purchase of the printer and said the committee should seek to establish who was involved in what decisions.
"I don't imagine the clerk of the Dáil is the one that would be micro-managing this and we need to see where the problems arose," she said.
She also said there may have been a fire safety issue in relation to the printer, and that is something the committee needs more information on.
"Clearly you don't want Kildare House to end up going on fire," she said.
