Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 3 Feb 1998

Vol. 486 No. 3

Written Answers. - Public Contracts.

Joe Higgins

Question:

162 Mr. Higgins (Dublin West): asked the Minister for Finance the total value of all payments made to a contractor (details supplied) or any of its subsidiaries associated or otherwise beneficially owned companies by the Office of Public Works over the past five years; the number of individual contracts these payments represent and the official addresses at which these contracts were carried out; if he will give a description of the works in each contract; the instances where extra works were added to existing contracts and the total value of these extra payments; if competitive public tenders were sought and received in the case of each contract and if the lowest tender was accepted; the total value of the payments made to this contractor or any of its subsidiaries, associated or otherwise beneficially owned companies in the case where public tenders were not invited; the percentage of the Office of Public Works capital allocation that the total value of all payments made to the contractor represent for the years in question; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2741/98]

Minister of State at the Department of Finance (Mr. Cullen)

The following is the information requested by the Deputy for the five year period from 1 January 1993 to 31 December 1997.

The total value of all payments made to the named companies amounted to £32,145,078.80.

This represents 10.73 per cent of the capital allocation of the Office of Public Works for the years in question. For the purpose of this response, the Office of Public Works capital allocation is taken to mean the capital allocation in the Office of Public Works Vote together with the moneys fowarded to the Office of Public Works in these years from the Votes of other Government Departments and-or Offices under their auspices to meet commitments for contracts entered into by the Office of Public Works on their behalf albeit not necessarily for capital works.

The number of individual contracts these payments represent is 82, a portion of which (27) were for minor works valued at less than £10,000 (marked *).

The Deputy inquired about instances where extra works were added to existing contracts and the total value of these extra payments. Under the terms of Government Construction Contracts, provision is made for adjustment of the contract price in relation to the price variation clause, prime cost and provisional sums and variations (extras and omissions including measured work). It is not feasible at short notice to examine each contract in such detail in order to extract any additional works not envisaged at the time of invitation of tenders. However, if the Deputy wishes to receive such information in relation to a specific contract he may contact me.

The total value of payments made for contracts where competitive public tenders were not invited was £3.1 million. Of this £2.1 million relates to Collins Barracks.

The rest of the information sought by the Deputy is contained in the following tabular statement.

Address	Description of Works	Competitive Public Tenders	Lowest Accepted
Department of Finance, Merrion Street	New Staff Canteen	Yes	Yes
Department of Finance, Merrion Street	Refurbishment of Ground Floor and General Works on Upper Floors	Yes	Yes
4th Floor, Nassau House	Refit of Offices and Ancillary Works	Yes	Yes
Clanwilliam Court	Refurbishment of Floors 3 and 4	Yes	Yes
51 St. Stephen's Green	Refurbishment	Yes	Yes
51 St. Stephen's Green	Fire and Security Works to 1st Floor	No	Single
51 St. Stephen's Green	Refurbishment of Toilets, Stairs, Lift and Storage	Yes	Yes
Custom House, Visitor Centre	Building Works	Yes	Yes
Ballaugh House, 73-79 Lower Mount Street	Refurbishment	Yes	Yes
43-49 Mespil Road, Department of Equality and Law Reform	Alterations and improvements to floors 4 and 5	No	Single
*43-49 Mespil Road	Extra Security Works	No	Single
*43-49 Mespil Road	Alterations and partitions on 5th Floor	No	Single
*43-49 Mespil Road, Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands	Adaptations works basement to 3rd Floor	No	Single
43-49 Mespil Road	Disabled Ramp, etc.	Yes	Yes
Dublin Castle, Ship Street Range	New Works	Yes	Yes
Confederation House, Kildare Street	Refitting of Offices and ancillary works	Yes	Yes
*Hume House, Ballsbridge	Partitioning works to 2nd Floor	Yes	Yes
D'Olier House	Fit-out of Floors 3 and 4 for Rev. Training Centre	Yes	Yes
Tom Johnson House, Beggars Bush	Replacement of doors and other works	Yes	Yes
Slaun, Leeson Street, Dublin	Fit-out for Department of the Marine and Natural Resources	Yes	Yes
Talbot Premises, Santry	Fit-out for storage	Yes	Yes
Talbot Premises, Santry	Remedial Works to Floor —Land Registry area	No	Single
*Talbot Premises, Santry	Remedial Works to Floor —Social, Community and Family Affairs area	No	Single
Talbot Premises, Santry	Replace existing concrete screed —Social, Community and Family Affairs area	No	Single
Clock Block —Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park	Refurbishment	Yes	Yes
Clock Block —Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park	Windows	Yes	Yes
Midleton GS	Extension	Yes	Yes
Dublin Zoo	Kitchen Conversion	Yes	Yes
Dublin Zoo	Miscellaneous Works	Yes	Yes
Banagher, County Offaly	Marina	Yes	Yes
Wicklow Mountains —National Parks	Construction of Visitor Centre	Yes	Yes
National Botanic Gardens	Restoration of Estate House	Yes	Yes
*National Botanic Gardens	Exploratory Works	No	Single
*National Botanic Gardens	Laying of drainage pipes prior to Official Opening of restored Turner Glasshouses	No	Single
*National Botanic Gardens	Works in preparation for Official Opening of restored Turner Glasshouses	No	Single
*National Botanic Gardens	Miscellaneous	No	Single
*Castletown House, County Kildare	Propping of arch to side of steps and lay floor	No	Single
*Castletown House, County Kildare	Works to ceiling of 1st Floor bedroom	No	Single
*Castletown House, County Kildare	Building Repairs	No	Single
*Castletown House, County Kildare	Works at House	No	Single
*Collins Barracks	Erection of Scaffolding to inspect stonework	No	Single
*Collins Barracks	Pre-Contract Structural investigation	Yes	Yes
*Collins Barracks	Conservation and adaption of West and South Wings, Clarke Square together with construction of link blocks	Yes	Yes
*Collins Barracks	Road widening works	No	Single
*Collins Barracks	Conservation of external fabric of North and East Wings of Clarke Square	No	(Single Tendering with Government Contracts Committee Approval)
*Collins Barracks	North Block, Clarke Square Renovations	Yes	Yes
*Collins Barracks	Exhibition Fit-out and Siteworks	Yes	Yes
*Collins Barracks	Sewerage Works	Yes	Yes
Custom House, Dublin	Landscaping works	Yes	Yes
*Royal Hospital, Kilmainham	Demolition Works at Coachhouse	No	Single
Killarney National Park	Miscellaneous Minor Works	No	Single
*Barryscourt Castle, County Cork	Concrete Flooring	No	Single
*Barryscourt Castle, County Cork	Carpentry	No	Single
Charlesfort, County Cork	Safety Works	Yes	Yes
Charlesfort, County Cork	Safety Works —Governor's House	No	Single
Charlesfort, County Cork	Safety Works	Yes	Yes
Department of Finance, Merrion Street	Replace Ceilings	Single	–
Leinster House	Refurbishment of Dáil self-service restaurant and Óireachtas toilets	Yes	Yes
Tallaght Probation Office	Joinery Work	Yes	Yes
Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform	Alteration to toilets	Yes	Yes
Office of Public Works, 51 St. Stephen's Green	Alterations to 1st Floor toilets	Yes	Yes
*Office of Public Works, 51 St. Stephen's Green	Basement Works	Single	–
Department of Finance, North Block	Refurbishment Works	Yes	Yes
Office of Public Works, 52 St. Stephen's Green	Refurbishment of 3rd and 4th Floors	Yes	Yes
*Ballyfermot Employment Exchange	Removal of partition, etc.	Single
*Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Davitt House	Minor maintenance works	Single	–
*Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Davitt House	Minor maintenance works	Single	–
Merrion Street Houses	Stabilisation works	Single	–
*Merrion Street Houses	Minor maintenance works	Single	–
*Merrion Street Houses	Minor maintenance works	Single	–
*Merrion Street Houses	Minor maintenance works	Single	–
*Merrion Street Houses	Minor maintenance works	Single	–
*Merrion Street Houses	Minor maintenance works	Single	–
*Merrion Street Houses	Minor maintenance works	Single	–
*Merrion Street Houses	Minor maintenance works	Single	–
Merrion Street Houses	Minor maintenance works	Single	–
Merrion Street Houses	Minor maintenance works	Single	–
Merrion Street Houses	Minor maintenance works	Single	–
Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform	Refurbishment of Ministerial Suite	Yes	Yes
Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Film Censor's Office	Extension of Film Censor's Office	Yes	Yes
Áras an Úachtarain	Construction of Visitor Centre	Single	Single
Á ras an Úachtarain	Fitting out of Visitor Centre	Yes	Yes

Joe Higgins

Question:

163 Mr. Higgins (Dublin West): asked the Minister for Finance the total amount of money spent under any subhead from the Office of Public Works Vote, capital, current, maintenance or other allocations, or under the Vote of the Houses of the Oireachtas on the provision of a new coffee dock and other works for the Minister for Finance after 1 January 1995; if this total accords with the total amount paid to the main and subsidiary contractors in relation to the works at the Minister for Finance's office; if not, the reason for any discrepancy; if he will confirm that the contracts were placed following competitive public tendering and that the lowest tenders were accepted; if not, the reason therefor; the name of the main contractor involved; and his views on whether these works were necessary in an office complex that had been built to the highest standards at a cost of £20 million of taxpayers' money. [2742/98]

Minister of State at the Department of Finance (Mr. Cullen)

Works undertaken in the Department of Finance, Merrion Street since January 1995 and paid for from the Vote of the Office of Public Works are as follows:

Project	Main Contractor	Competitive-Public Tendering Lowest Accepted	Amount Spent	Reason for Single Tendering
			£
New Coffee Dock	Pierce Building Services	Yes/Yes	171,756.00	–
Refurbishment of Ground and Upper Floors	Pierce Building Services	Yes/Yes	875,417.00	–
Replace Ceilings	Pierce Building Services	No/Single	39,881.25	Work consequential on rewiring contract — PBS already on site
Rewire Lower Ground Floor and Basement	Elenco Engineering	Yes/Yes	166,121.57	–
Total			1,253,175.82

The total accords with the amounts paid to the two contractors.

The refurbishment of Government Buildings at a cost of £17.4 million provided accommodation for the Department of the Taoiseach, including the Cabinet Room. The area occupied by the Department of Finance formed no part of this refurbishment project. No expenditure was charged against the Vote of the Houses of the Oireachtas for works in the Department of Finance.