The spending powers of civil servants in the OPW are to be reviewed in the wake of the Dáil bike shed controversy.

Senior officials from the Office of Public Works (OPW) yesterday met with the Oireachtas Commission to discuss the matter. 

Speaking after the meeting the chair of the commission Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl criticised a ‘fatally flawed’ system that permits civil servants employed at ‘principal officer’ level to sign off on up to €500,000 worth of spending.

Principal officers are senior civil servants and rank below only a department's general secretary and assistant general secretary.

It emerged earlier this month that the Office of Public Works (OPW) had spent €336,000 building a new bike shelter on the grounds of Leinster House.

The news sent shockwaves through Government buildings – with many demanding answers regarding who signed off on the spend.

Days later, the minister who had responsibility for the OPW during the project Patrick O’Donovan said he was ‘not aware’ of the plan while in office.

"The first I became aware of it was when I read it off the paper the other day,” he told Newstalk.

“I had never heard of it when I was in the department or the OPW.”

Oireachtas Commission meeting

On The Pat Kenny this morning Irish Times Political Correspondent Jack Horgan-Jones said the OPW told the commission that it “followed all the procedures and protocols when it comes to the decision to build and spend all that money on that bike shed”.

“But [the Ceann Comhairle] described those procedures and protocols as fatally flawed for one reason in particular; they allowed a senior civil servant - but not the very top of the food chain - to sign off on spending decisions up to and including €500,000," Mr Horgan-Jones said. 

“Talking to members of the Commission, they were certainly taken aback at that level of spending that can be signed off by just one individual with no counter signature from the very top of the organisation.

“That’s a policy that I understand is being put under review in the wake of the controversy.” 

'What looks like almost decadence'

The Ceann Comhairle told TDs the final cost was a “profound embarrassment” and said public anger was “entirely justified.”

Much of Leinster House is currently undergoing extensive refurbishment and the final bill is expected to be in the region of €42 million. 

“€336,000 is only a small percentage of that,” Mr Horgan-Jones said. 

“But part of the problem for the OPW and the wider political system is that while in relative terms those may feel like small spending decisions, when people are confronted with what looks like largesse, what looks like almost decadence… that’s where the political problem emerges.” 

A cyclist uses the bike shed at Leinster House. Image: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr Horgan-Jones said the bike shed is not the only example in recent history of the State spending a vastly excessive sum on a relatively small project. 

“Nobody will ever forget the obvious case of the famous printer that wouldn’t fit in the building,” he said. 

“It cost more than €1 million… People are wondering, what is it about the State, what is it about the way it spends money that means these instances keep on cropping up?”

OPW representatives are due to appear before the Public Accounts Committee to answer questions about the controversy on October 10th.

Main image: The Dáil bike shed. Picture by: Sasko Lazarov / © RollingNews.ie