Gavin: Sky Garden relocation fee a waste

CELEBRITY gardener Diarmuid Gavin has called for a halt to the spending of any more taxpayers’ money on the relocation of his Irish Sky Garden in Cork.

He said he is embarrassed to be associated with the entire €2.3 million venture and described as “grossly irresponsible” plans to spend a further €1.7m revamping the city’s Fitzgerald Park to incorporate his garden.

“I can’t have anything to do with waste of €1.7m. Morally, I can’t have anything to do with that.”

Mr Gavin broke his silence on the controversy in an at times emotional interview with Marian Finucane on RTÉ Radio 1 on Saturday. He called for the project to be referred to the Dáil committee for public expenditure.

He said he was “just astonished” when it was confirmed he was getting a €2.2m commission to build a contemporary garden to be exhibited at the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show, which was to be relocated to Cork for permanent display.

The funding was split between Fáilte Ireland, which put up 83% of the money, and Cork City Council.

Mr Gavin said the Chelsea Flower Show organisers, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), were prepared to “bend over backwards” to accommodate his design.

But as work got under way, Mr Gavin said he was without a contract, had not been paid a penny and could not get meetings with Fáilte Ireland or Cork City Council.

He said: “We did nothing wrong, we couldn’t get paid. I can’t sustain a €500,000 garden at Chelsea.

“Our suppliers had taken out loans to build this garden and people were sleeping on floors wherever they could, but I couldn’t pull out.

“People were squabbling over our contract, and who was responsible for what? They kept apologising to us, meetings with 18 people from tow organisations, and we were caught in the middle. We went through hell with no funds.

“Eventually one day, I was out of petrol. I had maxed out our credit cards, used all our funds, and I was up the Lake District, and I rang the Cork city manager on his mobile, who had made no attempt to contact me — never has since — and I asked him: ‘Are you gong to pay for my petrol to get me to London to finish this garden, who’s going to pay the lads’ wages?’.”

That night, Gavin said his office contacted him and said funds were going to flow. He denied refusing two city officials access to his garden in Chelsea to inspect how public money was being spent. He said they did not have tickets and it was the RHS’s decision to refuse access.

The council has advertised for consultants to oversee the redesign of Fitzgerald Park, and the incorporation of the garden as part of its Mardyke Gardens project. The council says Diarmuid Gavin Designs is welcome to tender for the project.