Paying double for modular homes better than 'renting hotel rooms for another five years', PAC to hear

A recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General found that the average cost of delivering modular accommodation had risen from an initial €200,000 to €442,000. 

The head of the Office of Public Works (OPW) has defended paying more than double the projected cost to build modular homes for refugees, saying it is better than “renting hotel rooms for another five years”.

Chair John Conlon will tell a special meeting of the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday that the modular homes, which are to house Ukrainian refugees, “are a State asset with a lifespan of 60 years”.

A recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General found that the average cost of delivering such modular accommodation had risen from an initial €200,000 to €442,000. 

Mr Conlon will tell the committee that, “by any assessment, it is better to have this new State asset than to be renting hotel rooms for years”.

He will argue that the inflation experienced in building the 654 homes can be blamed on the "emergency nature of the pilot, complications around sites, access issues, and utility connections”.

The OPW has come in for sustained criticism in recent months in terms of the value for money it has been achieving with regard to taxpayer-funded projects, such as the €336,000 spent on the construction of a 36-space covered bike shelter on the grounds of Leinster House.

Value for money

In terms of modular homes, Mr Conlon will tell the committee that an “independent audit” of the project has been commissioned which will “recommend measures to strengthen value for money on future projects”.

Such an audit, along with Mr Conlon’s move to lower the threshold at which such projects can be signed off without management approval to €200,000, will "improve governance in our project management process and ensure that value for money is central to how we manage taxpayer’s money,” he will say.

Regarding the bike shed, the OPW has given the PAC copies of minutes from the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission which show that several TDs,  including Labour leader Ivana Bacik, had communicated to the commission the need for covered bicycle parking spaces.

Ms Bacik raised the issue on at least four occasions between October 2020 and December 2022.

Mr Conlon will also address the €1.4m spent constructing a new security pavilion adjacent to the Department of Finance — a figure he will tell the committee is justified on the back of “real security threats”.