Diamuid Gavin's flower show entry cost Irish taxpayer €2.5m - report

Nevermind_

Jesus, nice garden and everything but what a waste of money considering the state of the country :eek:
Absolutely nuts!!

http://thedailyedge.thejournal.ie/diamuid-galvins-flower-show-entry-cost-irish-taxpayer-e2-5m-report-145507-May2011/

Chuck Stone

Yeah that's really typical of an Irish garden.

Yet again we see tax cows being milked to fund the whims of the privileged.








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ArtyM

Keep the garden, plant weed, sell weed = pays for itself.

Pauleta

Sweet mother of Brian O'Driscoll. This is unbelievable. Heads must roll for this. This is something we can not take laying down. If Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney approved this then they must resign or Enda Kenny must sack them for allowing it to happen.

One of Fianna Gaels proposals before they got elected was to "Cut the waste"

Saila

with it being so high up can you actually see inside it?

wait...eye shaped...suspended 80ft so the punter cant see into it..........
I see what you did there Dermot [there is nothing in it]
and you netted yourself the difference

gigino

The ordinary small person - who does not have a big salary or golden pension - who sends tax cheques to the government should stop. The govt gets 31 billion in taxes but squanders 50 billion.

Chuck Stone

Whoever okayed this wasteful venture should resign. If they don't resign they should be fired.

Welcoming news of Gavin’s success in Chelsea, Fáilte Ireland said it believed the garden, which is being relocated to Cork, would “significantly boost Cork tourism” in terms of visitor numbers and revenue for this year. The tourist group said that the garden would give Cork city an icon along the lines of the London Eye or the Eiffel tower.

Bollocks.





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Monty Burnz

Pauleta wrote: »

Sweet mother of Brian O'Driscoll. This is unbelievable. Heads must roll for this. This is something we can not take laying down. If Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney approved this then they must resign or Enda Kenny must sack them for allowing it to happen.

One of Fianna Gaels proposals before they got elected was to "Cut the waste"

Don't you think it's more likely that Fianna Failure are behind this? These gardens take years to plan, not 6 or 8 weeks :rolleyes:

For Forks Sake

Chuck Stone wrote: »

If they don't resign they should be fired.

The words 'resign', 'fired', or for that matter 'accountability' are not in the public/civil service lexicon in this country.

Monty Burnz

For Forks Sake wrote: »

The words 'resign', 'fired', or for that matter 'accountability' are not in the public/civil service lexicon in this country.

Ironically, the last public servant I can recall resigning on a point of honour was Simon Coveney's dad.

Nevermind_

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Don't you think it's more likely that Fianna Failure are behind this? These gardens take years to plan, not 6 or 8 weeks :rolleyes:

Read the article it was ok'ed by two FG ministers!!
They could have put a stop to it and didnt.
Kinda hard to blame FF for this (for a change)

EI111

I would bet this garden will add a value of over 2.5m to the irish economy. Of course this is unquantifiable so I can't prove it, but what do people suggest? That we just create a series of soviet bloc-esque boring grey towns where no tourist would like to go?

For Forks Sake

EI111 wrote: »

That we just create a series of soviet bloc-esque boring grey towns where no tourist would like to go?

We already have them, have you ever been to Dundalk?

Chuck Stone

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Don't you think it's more likely that Fianna Failure are behind this? These gardens take years to plan, not 6 or 8 weeks :rolleyes:

FF FG SF LAB it doesn't matter.

Let's not get bogged down in partisanship.

People have got to stop thinking they have some sort of control over what these sociopaths do with our money.

Monty Burnz

Nevermind_ wrote: »

Read the article it was ok'ed by two FG ministers!!
They could have put a stop to it and didnt.
Kinda hard to blame FF for this (for a change)

I read the article. That's not what it says at all.

Philip Ryan reports in the Irish Mail on Sunday that the council oversaw the project’s €2.3m budget but is unsatisfied with the gardener’s breakdown of the high costs involved, which initially included €750,000 to buy a crane. This figure was later revised to over €513,000 for crane hire and the final cost rose over €2.5m.
It also reports that Gavin says the council refused to meet him or speak to him and he went to former PD minister Liz O’Donnell, who then approached Minister Simon Coveney, before Minister Leo Varadkar also got involved. Ryan says the council provided €406,000.

Where did you get 'it was okayed by two FG ministers' from that?

Very easy to blame Fianna Failure if there was any government involvement in this. As I said, I know for a fact that these gardens take about a year to plan and build. He hardly went looking for funding in the last few weeks, did he?

Pauleta

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Don't you think it's more likely that Fianna Failure are behind this? These gardens take years to plan, not 6 or 8 weeks :rolleyes:

Even if Fianna Fail are behind this (which the article doesnt suggest) then it should of been halted by Fianna Gael immediately. There was no justification of using a crane costing half a million.

Chuck Stone

EI111 wrote: »

I would bet this garden will add a value of over 2.5m to the irish economy.

Total rubbish.

I suggest we don't steal money from tax payers and give it to celebs to fund their whims.

If this really was a profitable venture then let entrepreneurs fund it. If yer man is so worried about tourism in cork then let him invest some of his own money in Cork. Buy a hotel and build a ****ing fairy garden outside it and see if it repays itself.

We've got to stop thinking like slaves FFS.

Monty Burnz

Pauleta wrote: »

Even if Fianna Fail are behind this (which the article doesnt suggest) then it should of been halted by Fianna Gael immediately. There was no justification of using a crane costing half a million.

How the hell do you suggest FG and Lab could have put a stop to it? 95% of the money would already have been spent by the time they got into power anyway.

Nowhere does the article suggest that FG are 'behind' this either, but all the planning and preparation would have been done on Fianna Failure's watch.

And why are you trying to pin it on FG rather than FG and Labour? What is your agenda?

SparkyTech

Bloomin' disgrace :mad:

ejmaztec

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Whoever okayed this wasteful venture should resign. If they don't resign they should be fired.



Bollocks.





.

It proves what I've long suspected i.e. Fáilte Ireland knows absolutely nothing about tourism. A few simple-minded people might possibly travel in an SUV to see the garden in Cork but that's it. Diarmuid Gavin thinks he's a reincarnation of Capability Brown.

cml387

Buy a crane?
Surely after our construction boom there are hundreds of cranes available for cheap rent?

losthorizon

People are just jealous of Cork. And with good reason.

elefant

He flat out avoided saying how much it cost when asked on the Late Late; he was obviously aware of the fact that it was a ridiculous waste of money. I know Diarmuid Gavin can hardly be blamed for accepting the funding, but the way he was treated on the Late Late, as if he was a great ambassador for the country that we should all be grateful for... a joke.

Nevermind_

Monty Burnz wrote: »

I read the article. That's not what it says at all.



Where did you get 'it was okayed by two FG ministers' from that?

Very easy to blame Fianna Failure if there was any government involvement in this. As I said, I know for a fact that these gardens take about a year to plan and build. He hardly went looking for funding in the last few weeks, did he?

Sorry forgot to link the mail article as well, a bit more detail in it.
They made representations to get the money released if that isnt supporting something then I dont know what is.

But i take your point It was planned 2 or 3 years ago so I guess we could/should blame FF to some extent, Cork city council have even more to explain though.
What party controls Cork city council these days?

FG should have known how this would look either way!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392010/The-secret-war-Diarmuid-Gavin-s-2-5m-winning-Chelsea-Flower-Show-garden.html


Now I need to go take a shower after linking to a Daily Mail Article

alex73

Included in the 2 million is his designer fee!!!!..... The only person laughing is him. Hope the prize money is going to pay for the garden and not into his pocket.

Pauleta

Monty Burnz wrote: »

How the hell do you suggest FG and Lab could have put a stop to it? 95% of the money would already have been spent by the time they got into power anyway.

Nowhere does the article suggest that FG are 'behind' this either, but all the planning and preparation would have been done on Fianna Failure's watch.

And why are you trying to pin it on FG rather than FG and Labour? What is your agenda?

Sorry i didnt even think of Labour. I dont have an agenda in terms of being against Fianna Gael (i voted for them) and in terms of Labour, anybody who is a fan of my work here on Boards.ie would know i reject and mock pretty much anything left-wing so im no Labour lover. The article says that Gavin approached Liz O'Donnell and the she approached Simon Coveney (Fianna Gael) and then Leo Varadkar (Fianna Gael) got involved. Im not pushing any political agenda. I just want to know who approved this to be funded and whoever did should be sacked. It seems like Varadkar an Coveney had the chance to stop this. They could of easily stoped funding for that crane even if the garden was already approved and paid for previously.

Monty Burnz

ejmaztec wrote: »

It proves what I've long suspected i.e. Fáilte Ireland knows absolutely nothing about tourism. A few simple-minded people might possibly travel in an SUV to see the garden in Cork but that's it. Diarmuid Gavin thinks he's a reincarnation of Capability Brown.

Why would you go in an SUV to the Mardyke??

bonerm

2.5 million? :eek:

I'd kick his ass back to the Shire! :mad:

Chuck Stone

Money is taken from strapped tax payers who are probably struggling to pay mortgages and the debts of idiot bankers (backed by sociopathic politicians) and given to a celeb to fund his fantasy 'Irish' sky garden and the justification is that it will pay itself back in a fantasy future,

As I said already if this is really a profitable venture then get pivate investors to fund it.

Private investors would probably ROTFL if DG came to them with this proposal. Can people really imagine DG going to a dragons den with this 'magic sky garden' (wrapped in an Irish flag to fool the the patriots among us) and actually get money off them?

We've really got to drop this slave mentality.

Monty Burnz

Pauleta wrote: »

Im not pushing any political agenda. I just want to know who approved this to be funded and whoever did should be sacked. It seems like Varadkar an Coveney had the chance to stop this. They could of easily stoped funding for that crane even if the garden was already approved and paid for previously.

I would point out again that, by the time this was dropped in the ministers' laps, the money was already spent and all that was left was for the garden to appear in the show or not. At that point, 95% or whatever of the money was a 'sunk cost'. If they refused the few extra bob for it to be seen at the show, all the money spent so far would have been wasted for nothing, and they would probably be in a legal quagmire too.

The people who need to answer for this in my opinion are the people in Cork County Council Corporation, regardless of their political stripe.

mlumley

Ahh now,cum on you fecking begrudgers. 2.5mill:eek:, it's worth every penny of it. All those idiots who crowd into a flower show paying £20-30 each :rolleyes: to see it. Just wait for it to come back over (at great expence no doubt), and all those people who couldnt see it will flood over to have another look to see if they can see why a garden you fcuking cant see, won a gold medal. That will sort our deficit out big tgime. Dermot, go on you deluded twit.

Nevermind_

Monty Burnz wrote: »

I would point out again that, by the time this was dropped in the ministers' laps, the money was already spent and all that was left was for the garden to appear in the show or not. At that point, 95% or whatever of the money was a 'sunk cost'. If they refused the few extra bob for it to be seen at the show, all the money spent so far would have been wasted for nothing, and they would probably be in a legal quagmire too.

The people who need to answer for this in my opinion are the people in Cork County Council, regardless of their political stripe.

I agree if something like 95% of the cost was already incurred then they had little choice but to finish it.
But if it was only 40 or 50% then I personally would have preferred to cancel it completely.

Unfortunately it doesnt state in either article how much had already been spent, so we dont know do we..

BTW I voted for FG in the last election I have no "agenda" here

Chuck Stone

losthorizon wrote: »

People are just jealous of Cork. And with good reason.

Are you serious? I live in Cork City and have grown up here but I can see thru this rubbish.

Don't let your misguided loyaties cloud your thinking.

Oh and drop the 'Cork is the greatest place on earth' attitude - frankly, it's embarrasing.

Chinasea

Shame he just couldn't spend the money on planting some trees - in fact a tiny percentage of the gross amount could have gotten a heck of a lot of badly needed trees planted in those grim auld baron towns that he is trying to clean up.

I saw them in Charleville last week and the place was screaming out for some permanent tree planting but sadly not a one got planted as far as I could see. Get back to basics Diarmuid and plant for the future.

syklops

Pauleta wrote: »

...Fianna Gael...

Pauleta wrote: »

...Fianna Gael...

Pauleta wrote: »

...Fianna Gael...

Fine.

cml387

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the seven wonders of the world.

Look what happened Babylon.

ShamoBuc

cml387 wrote: »

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the seven wonders of the world.

Look what happened Babylon.

yeah... they made a song about it..... By the rivers of....:D

Nodin

ShamoBuc wrote: »

yeah... they made a song about it..... By the rivers of....:D

Burning, I thought it was.

My name is URL

I wish I could say I was still surprised by this sort of bullshit.. but I'm really not anymore

Emoi

My name is URL wrote: »

I wish I could say I was still surprised by this sort of bullshit.. but I'm really not anymore

Me neither :mad::mad:

But why does tax-payers money fund his entry, I didn't realise the competition worked like that?? I just presumed the designer decides to enter so they or their company pay the costs.

Absurdum

since the report originated in the Mail on Sunday, I'm guessing that in reality, the taxpayer is probably going to benefit enormously from this

Sonnenblumen

Emoi wrote: »

Me neither :mad::mad:

But why does tax-payers money fund his entry, I didn't realise the competition worked like that?? I just presumed the designer decides to enter so they or their company pay the costs.

They don't but some civil/public servant approved spending €2.5mio. Unbelievable and incredible though it is, I sense another growing scandal.

Presumably the cost breakdown will be available under FOI, it certainly warrants an investigation ?:(

phasers

Diarmuid Gavin isn't even good, did anyone ever see that programme on RTE when he put what looked like a multi storey car park in someone's garden, called it art then charged them half a million quid?

holystungun9

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Yeah that's really typical of an Irish garden.

Yet again we see tax cows being milked to fund the whims of the privileged.

.

Even more typical would have been building a tiny block of apartments.

Show Time

No wonder the country is borked.

squod

€500k for crane plus driver. My fuhken total arse it was!!!!:mad: Betcha it was €500k after they found out who was paying.

JonathanAnon

Can you imagine what that 2.5 million would have done for the towns around Ireland that he was supposedly helping to clean up in "Dirty Old Towns"? .. Instead of this airy fairy bolloxology, putting a crane in a garden.. self indulgent nonsense.. .. Diarmuid Gavin is all showtime and no substance...

And to think of the lecture that he gave to us all about "doing things for ourselves" on the Late Late Show last year.. And then he goes and dips in to all our pockets..

My name is URL

Anyone remember his appearance on The Late Late Show a while back where he ranted incessantly about how badly the country had messed up and about the lack of responsibility that its citizens showed?

Why the hell couldn't his own company pay for his bloody entry? I'm sure he's made enough money over the years to do so.

Solnskaya

To find out the real story, you would probably have to look a little closer at DG's family tree and who his friends are.

Small Irish company goes to the State and asks for funding so they can take on more employees on a solid, proven venture. Answer-Feck off.

Well connected but essentially crap semi-celebrity goes to friend/acquaintance/relative in govt. with half assed idea to write a book/paint a wickle piccie/make a naff documentary/install a piece of sh1te sculpture/refurbish a fairy ring, cue deluge of cash into new half-baked trendy idea that will "bring long term benefits".
This Country is a feckin MADHOUSE

JonathanAnon

Solnskaya wrote: »

To find out the real story, you would probably have to look a little closer at DG's family tree and who his friends are.

I thought everybody knew?

Diarmuid Gavin (born 10 May 1964) is an Irish garden designer and television personality. He is married to Justine Keane, daughter of The Hon. Ronan Keane, the former Chief Justice of Ireland, and Terry Keane, and they have a daughter named Eppie born December 2004.

Solnskaya

JonathanAnon wrote: »

I thought everybody knew?

So did I.