Overview
- Ireland’s Public Accounts Committee will write to the HSE to explain why a staff bike shelter at University Hospital Kerry cost €127,000.
- Committee chair John Brady called the structure extravagant and said the watchdog wants to know if cheaper options were examined.
- Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty labeled the spend a waste and pointed to off-the-shelf shelters available for about €7,000.
- Minister Helen McEntee said the project followed procurement rules and matched what the hospital said it needed, while promoting active travel.
- McEntee cited Office of Public Works safeguards introduced after the €336,000 Leinster House shelter, with critics also recalling a near €100,000 build at Holles Street as patients face trolley waits and hiring freezes in parts of the health service.