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DUBLIN CITY MANAGER Owen Keegan has said that the public private partnership (PPP) company behind the Poolbeg waste incinerator project may seek to recoup funds if the project doesn’t go ahead.
Speaking to the Oireachtas Environment Committee today, Keegan said that he “wouldn’t like to advise” the company behind the project but said that it is likely they would try and get some payback on their investment if the project was shut down:
It’s not a simple of method of just stopping. There’s a real possibility that the company might say that they have a argument that they had a legitimate expectation that this would go ahead.
The project has so far cost the taxpayer €96 million with just €4 million recouped by local government from the company behind it.
The rest of these funds would likely be lost if the project is shut down according to Keegan ,who argued that these could be recouped “over a long period” if it went ahead.
Keegan told the committee that the €96 million spent should be viewed in terms of the total budget of the project of €600 million, €500 million of which is slated to come form the PPP company.
If the project goes ahead, this would be sourced externally by the company with local authorities likely to pay only “about €4-5 million”.
Consultancy
In a submission sent to the committee, it was shown that the spend on consultancy fees for the process had increased from €8 million to over €30 million.
Keegan was not in the position of Dublin City Manager at the time but said that a decision was taken at the time not to break a contract with outside consultants. This decision in hindsight has proven to be wrong he said.
“I have no doubt that had we known that it would have gone on as long as it did then we would not have made that decision,” he said.
Delay
The original project board was formed back in 2004 but as yet no final decision has been made on whether the project will happen.
Keegan said today that the delays to the completion of the project were due to factors that “were largely outside of the control of the DCC”.
The DCC manager was asked straight out if he believed that the project would go ahead, “I don’t know”, was his response.
He said that the major obstacle to the project’s compaction is a challenge that has been submitted to the EU Commission which has been ongoing for three years.
A number of committee members outlined their criticism of the project with Sinn Féin’s Brian Stanley TD saying he is “very concerned” about the monies spent so far.
“€4 million has been recouped but the rest is being paid for by the public, and I don’t see any evidence of it on site, ” he said.
Fianna Fáil Senator Averil Power questioned whether the project could be compared to the money spent on electronic voting machines, asking if ”it had gone too far for people to admit they were wrong”.
The current CEO of Irish Water John Tierney was the Dublin City Manager from September 2006 to January 2013 and Labour TD Kevin Humphreys said that he would be seeking Tierney’s appearance to answer questions about the project.
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No problem there. This is Ireland. How much money would you like to be compensated for. The taxpayer is good for it.
Actually – as our laws stand it’s tough sh!t on them & if a penny is given – it’s out and out corruption. Force them to go through the courts and they will lose.
A public body can’t be sued for causing pure economic loss. You can get injunctions, but that’s it.
Glencar exploration v May Co Co is one example. Beatty v the rent tribunal is the other. The courts will be bound by these rulings so if any money is paid back to this company heads should roll, because they are legally not entitled to it.
Matt have you forgotten what country this is.
I know exactly this country – as long as the idiots/crooks don’t sign a contract promising the money back – they will not be able to recoup through the courts.
i say build the damned thing regardless of the cost, but it should be written into their contracts of employment (seeing as these types are so fond of contracts) that the public will be allowed vote on which 5 members of the top brass at DCC will be thrown into the thing on the day it’s fired up first.
I’d pay my licence fee with a smile to see “Corporation Incineration” on the RTE schedule some day.
The Ahern Govt. also agreed that it would be guaranteed a certain amount of rubbish each year.
More than Dublin or Leinster could provide. There is a pay structure in place in the evident of this not happening.
The 91mn is getting out of this deal cheaply.
Depends whats in the contract, if there is a breach of contract by the council, the company may well have a valid claim for costs.
And the man mainly responsible for the mess gets paid off, pensioned off and is running Irish Water …. Fu€k me but this is one chess pool of a country still run by fu€k wits like Hogan ….
Brilliant just F@#king brilliant. Nothing gets done in this country without the taxpayer taking it in the ass and as usual it’s really nobody’s fault. All those people in charge aren’t actually in charge and whilst the guy on the massive wage was responsible when push comes to shove he doesn’t know anything about anything.
This country gets worse by the day.
Sure the “water charges” will easily cover the costs involved.
Household charges should cover the bondholders ….
Great little country this driven by the biggest bunch of lieing sleveens .
John Tierney GTFO >>>>>
May I interrupt the proceedings just to say that this is a missed opportunity to dispose of our wastes in a sensible fashion and generate some useful heat in the process.
Or maybe it would be more sensible to reduce waste
And the man mainly responsible for the mess gets paid off, pensioned off and is running Irish Water …. Fu€k me but this is one cess pool of a country still run by fu€k wits like Hogan ….
We’ll all be paying for this one as well. “Open your wallets and repeat after me, Help Yourself!!”
Ok, today is nearly over, role on tomorrow and the next story in relation to government incompetence and how the tax payer will have to cough up.
Bend over sheep and get the gel, the lads need some more money for nothing
Ah for the love of jesus when is this sh1te going to stop. Tax payers don’t have any more money to give….we have been bled bloody dry….
The taxpayer, or LPT taxpayers in Dublin City? Not Fingal or Dun Laoighaire/Rathdown.
FARCE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!This country is a JOKE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I blame the greens, their stupid policies caused the delay.
How was their pointing out that this was economically unfeasible and that the numbers and projections did not add up stupid?
If Dublin had a decent sized incinerator with sorting machinery attached then we could get rid of all these nonsensical different colour ‘recycling’ bins and stop wasting time playing silly bruggers. Everything into one bin, tipped into a big hopper, mechanically sorted and burn anything that will burn, sell the heat to the ESB or use for district heating in winter and pulverise the rest for road fill or to make blocks for tide breaks.
So very true. And being that rubbish is now pre sorted so almost all plastics, paper and organics are gone out of it, what exactly do they plan on burning in the thing?
You can burn anything with a calorific value in a modern incinerator (including us!).
Send the bill to the cretins that wasted the money in the first place.
These people give free masons a good name.
Seems fair enough. The company which was engaged in good faith to build the thing got screwed by the local politics of the thing.
It is totally our fault and by our I mean the people who stopped it being built. We are fully entitled to do so but obviously there are costs.
The company was doing their job, when you are negotiating with a few FF boys who couldn’t care less either way about Celtic Tiger tax spend why not cover all bases.
More on Poolbeg and even worse,Irish Water here http://t.co/N2jybh5oBK
I wouldnt give it any credence …calling it irish w.. its irish gravy
Is it not time that senior officials, govt ministers and councillors who create these cock ups were made answerable. Should be barred from holding public office, lose pension and if courts find them negligent pay fines. Same applies where Hse or govt depts have awards made against them in courts for negligence, the individuals involved should be sacked. All of these awards are paid by us the taxpayers.
Yet another gigantic cockup,96 million euro spent and not a sod turned,now it could turn out to be more costly to cancel this project than to actually build it,just like the Corrib gas project in Mayo,the ESB pylons,the wind farms,and almost everthing else you can think of that has the potential to contribute to the countries economy is being seen as something suspicous and negative,is it any wonder the country is a basket case when we are only too ready to press the self destruct button.
Ah the begrudgers are out in force.
How was John Tierney supposed to foresee that merely signing up to the incinerator project would ultimately cost the taxpayer €110 million?
What we really need to know is, who signed off on a blank chequebook for an uncertain project that had openended taxpayer liability?
Covanta knew exactly what they were getting into and how profitable various scenarios would be, not least that it was a halfbaked plan by public sector layabouts on bloated salaries & pensions, with no personal commercial or career risk in the venture, who were in way over their head in a project they were totally incompetent to manage, let alone agree to.
The person who managed and signed the deal on behalf of the irish taxpayer knew this. We need to know who that person was.
John Tierney is just a scapegoat.
He couldn’t possibly be responsible for the Incinerator travesty otherwise he would have been fired (through a cannon between the Big Chimneys) rather than land another 2xx,000 salary plus pensions role to manage Irish Water.
Of course they deserve to be compensated for their trouble. All because DCC were unprepared and not able to plan properly under mr Tierney s watch. Will any of those responsible be fired? When was a city planner last fired after all the strew ups? Mater hospital, Ballsbridge sites, Priory Hall, Ghost estates etc.
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I would love to see that legitimate expectation tested in court.
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