The head of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) complained of “sheer despair” over delays in remediating defects and expanding its Dublin office.
WRC director general Audrey Cahill wrote to the head of the Office of Public Works (OPW) in May outlining “sheer despair at this juncture about the lack of insight or engagement” from the OPW on a range of issues at the building – including addressing the risk of people “listening at the door” to sensitive hearings or confidential negotiations on public pay.
Works to a wall at Lansdowne House in Dublin, previously undertaken by the OPW, caused a big controversy when it emerged the cost ran to €490,000.
Documents released under freedom-of-information legislation show the WRC worried more controversy could arise from works to repair the “crumbling” facade of the building – which had dragged on for years amid fears that it could be “remedial and expensive”.
Cahill told OPW chairman John Conlan that scaffolding had been up at the building for five years to protect people “from pieces of concrete falling on them”, complaining that “we have no insight into where this project is currently at”.
