They're generally good nowadays, sometimes you can be unlucky. Hope your parents got a good resolution in the end
I would have been very annoyed with the resolution but they paid for a new car of the same spec. No issues with the current one.
Would definitely put me off ever buying one.
So just a normal trade in situation? Wouldn't be happy myself
The Office of Public Works (OPW) spent at least €120,000 installing 12 electric car charging ports at Leinster House. One was damaged shortly afterwards in a collision and an official complaint was made that they were a trip hazard and a danger to health and safety.
Internal records also detail trouble getting a system up and running to ensure TDs and senators were charged for the electricity they used to power their vehicles.
More details
A good bit cheaper than the bike shed though. 😄
I guess if the OPW didn't spend their budget they wouldn't get an increase next year 🙄
So the actual chargers cost
"A table of costs also detailed around €28,000 for the supply, installation and testing for the 12 charging ports"
With the rest being spent on substructure works, paving, landscaping and line marking. Do we know if they are 22kW chargers? €2333 per charger is not beyond extravagant but obviously the headline figure gets more clicks.
Could have got Fokearn in with loads of BG Sync Chargers for half the price!
I would imagine they are at that price
Obviously there's added costs since Leinster House is a historic building, you can't just slap down one of those prefab transformers in the car park
There's probably a list of "preferred suppliers" who they've used before and charge extra for specialist work
However, I also suspect that the OPW is just paying the going rate without seeking other tenders. For example if you want a trench dug you can pay a few labourers or pay ESB Networks to do it, you can probably guess the ESB price is quite steep
It's also worth noting that every time a government department spends money, they get a significant percentage back as tax. I'm not condoning waste but just keep in mind that €120,000 spent isn't a €120,000 cost to the taxpayer
There's usually a requirement to go to tender depending on the process and value. That said a company that's familiar with the process will know how to do a public tender correctly and be more likely to be successful.
While you can get your mate who's a laugh down the pub to dig the trench. When it all goes badly and Bob can't be found. That's when you realise maybe Bobs not that cheap after all.
Tendering is only required if the contract is above a certain amount, the figure is quite high, certainly more than the cost of a few chargers (and a bike shed).
Tender thresholds are actually quite low. I had to tender for contracts of just over 20k 20 years ago. It depends on the type of contract, roads for example would be higher. Something over 100k would very likely have to go to tender.
No knowledge of the opw rules. It's not exactly a trivial amount 120k.
Even tendering isn't bulletproof if the process isn't setup correctly
For example I've recently heard the RUSE-AF problem in procurement; RUle Sounds Excellent - Actually Flawed (or other words beginning with F, depending on whether you're in polite company)
As the OPW you could say you won't tolerate any risks to the project, so you'll only use contractors that have a proven track record of working on historical buildings. Since a large portion of those sites are owned by the OPW then they effectively end up using the same contractor over and over
There may also be a rule that contractors working on secure government buildings must be Garda vetted, and possibly that contracts will not be awarded to any company that isnt tax compliant for the past 4 years. Both would add cost and cut down on the list of available contractors
Finally, you could reasonably say that you don't want the front of Leinster House to be sitting dug up for months so there's a requirement that works need to start immediately. Most construction companies would definitely charge extra for a fast pass
I'm talking in hypotheticals here, I don't know if any of those happened and I'll leave it to ye to decide if any rules qualify for the "AF" label
But it's interesting to see how procurement and tendering processes can be setup to produce disastrous results
Bulletproof absolutely not. For all those reasons and others.
possibly that contracts will not be awarded to any company that isnt tax compliant for the past 4 years.
No possibly about it. Absolute requirement for any government contract no matter how small.
Probably discounts Bob from down the pub then 😂
Anyway, it's easy to see how stricter requirements than "dig trench" can add costs, so it isn't a surprise that these contracts are so expensive
I can understand that for the OPW they'd probably rather spend the money to be sure the job is done the way they want than try to save money by getting some idiots who screw it up
It's probably less of a scandal to overpay than to be left holding the bag
However, I would suggest that perhaps the OPW should re-examine some of their tendering practices
Don't get me wrong. The OPW are and have been an incompetent shower since God was a child. My dad used to call them the Office of public jerks. 🤣
I like opw visitor sites. But some of their decisions just baffle me.
You'd kind of assume that the public body in charge of basically all government building projects would be a bit better at figuring out construction contracts
It's the result of design by committee where no one wants to responsible for anything.
"...Nobody got fired for buying IBM…"
..etc.
We have to send in our tax clearance for TAMS grants and the likes. Its 1 button on ROS.
There're numerous reasons for OPW's expensive projects.
Standard for all jobs now since the implementation of the Building Control Amendment Regulations and the CPR. All private jobs go through a technical submitted process too and nothing, absolutely nothing goes to site without data sheets, test documentation, DoP and certification document.
It a product doesn’t have an agrement cert then it’s not getting used, full stop. BBA Certs not acceptable etc
Is this suitable for to charge the 12V battery on an EV6 if you have a dead one?
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/asperx-2000a-power-packup-to-7l-gas55l-diesel-car-battery-booster-jump-starter-with-jump-leads-wvocuher-by-jiahongjing-store-fba-4504569
RTÉ Primetime featuring EV sales in Ireland this evening - 9.30 RTÉ 1 if anyone interested
Yes they are talking about if the sales of EVs has died :( and what should be done I think.
just saw it on news catchup, the usual misinformation from that lady in Ashford Motors - Nadia Adan, why is this person constantly being interviewed in EV articles, someone who only sells used cars, and which are typically large ICE sports cars.
The Norway story is impressive, almost 90 % of car sales are now BEV’s.
Norway is particularly impressive considering how much oil they have.
Yes absolutely ridiculous that that had to interview her. Fair play to her she a huge success and all but she only sells used cars ffs.
Yes the Norway story is very impressive. I wish we coukd be like them.
Yes indeed. Very clever of them to sell there oil elsewhere while they mostly all drive clean cars now.
their oil paid for what they have now…
