FELLING OF trees at the Irish Ambassador to Canada’s residence in Ottawa, allegedly to make way for a swimming pool that may never be built, has caused dismay among residents of the city’s diplomatic belt in Rockcliffe Park.
Iola Price, vice-president of the local residents’ association, complained that four mature beech trees had been removed to make way for two large wings that were added to the residence at a cost of seven million Canadian dollars (€4.78 million).
As a result of her complaints to the Ottawa city planners, two maple trees that had been slated for felling were pruned instead and additional trees were to be planted to compensate for the removal of the four beeches.
The cost of redeveloping the residence has also been criticised by Fine Gael foreign affairs spokesman Billy Timmins TD.
He said those bearing the brunt of the recession “are entitled to feel infuriated at the Government’s decision to prioritise funding for a ‘palace’ over special needs assistants, hospital wards and social welfare payments”.
Asked about the project on RTÉ radio yesterday, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin agreed that it had cost a lot of money. However, he said the need for Ireland to maintain a network of embassies should not be underestimated.
A spokesman for his department said some elements of the project, originally reported in the Ottawa Citizen, were not true. "There is no art gallery, no jacuzzi and no chandeliers costing €20,000", he told The Irish Times."A large part of the work involved removing asbestos from every room."
Referring to the felling of trees on the site, the spokesman said this had been necessary “because of the amount of construction going on”. But he emphasised that they would be replaced as soon as weather permitted; yesterday, Ottawa was “under five feet of snow”.
In its report, the Ottawa Citizensaid work had just finished on the largest residence in Rockcliffe Park and the neighbourhood "was agog at the sprawling mansion financed by a country on the economic skids". Despite having imposed "massive spending cuts and salary rollbacks to try and reduce a crushing debt before the shamrock nation becomes a failed fiscal state . . . prudence was not a consideration in . . . recreating an abode of unbridled luxury for Irish Ambassador Declan Kelly."
With more than twice the floorspace of Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper’s official residence, and “a reconstruction tab exceeding $7 million, the 24,000sq ft [2,230sq m], four-storey house is now the accommodation envy of the diplomatic corps”.
The original stone-fronted house, built in 1937, “has been wrapped in vast new wings including a huge dining and living room with an upstairs featuring a 2,000sq ft [186sq m] suite and bathroom for the privacy of the ambassador and his wife Anne”.
One of the construction workers had shown the paper “blueprints of a project packed with every conceivable luxury and ornate columns rising to the roof. ‘All that’s missing is a throne for Caesar,’ the worker grinned. ‘I’ve never worked on anything like this before’.
“There’s an oversized wine cellar, hobby area, data room, recreation room, study, library, gymnasium with a green-padded floor, two kitchens including a commercial-sized operation, a chef’s office, art gallery and what appear to be five fireplaces,” the report said.