The Government’s decision to build modular homes for Ukrainians at a cost of €442,000 each has been described as “almost as shambolic as the Children’s Hospital” saga.
The arrival of tens of thousands of Ukrainians left the Government struggling to find them all appropriate accommodation.
Part of the solution was to commission modular homes which they hoped could be built swiftly and at a relatively cheap price.
The original budget was set at €200,000 per modular home but a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General published today has revealed the cost has since ballooned to €442,000 each.
On The Hard Shoulder, Irish Mortgage Brokers Director Karl Deeter, said the story was completely unsurprising.
“Just in the last week we’ve had €350,000 bicycle sheds,” he said.
“Over the weekend, we had a €1.4 million security shack, now we have modular homes built as the ‘low cost solution’ - inflating at a price that makes it almost as shambolic as the Children’s Hospital.
“The only saving grace in such a massive, kafkaesque [scandal] is that it will result in a lot of heads rolling - actually, I’m just kidding, no one is going to resign.”
'There’ll always be a dumpster fire'
Mr Deeter said the way contractors treat public sector contracts, it “may as well be free”.
He added that he did not expect this to change anytime soon.
“Instead, we’ll have a hurried press release about how mistakes were made, we’ll look into it,” he said.
“A few years’ later we’ll be none the wiser, still out of pocket and focused on whatever the next dumpster fire du jour is.
“That’s the one guarantee you can bank on - there’ll always be a dumpster fire.”
Mr Deeter described the cost as a “total failure” by the OPW and given the sums involved.
“For €422,000 you could have just gone and bought luxury apartments,” he said.
“It was meant to cost [€200,000 each]; that’s like buying a Ford car, being charged for a Ferrari but then you actually get a Ford with a Ferrari sticker pasted onto it and told, ‘Yeah, there you go.’”
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Main image: A construction site. Picture by: Alamy.com
