The Office of Public Works (OPW) has paid legal costs of €1.1 million following two arbitration cases related to the planned National Children’s Science Centre, and further costs are expected to follow.
Most of the sum was to cover costs incurred by the Irish Children’s Museum Limited (ICML), the charity behind the long-standing plan to deliver the science centre.
The Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been examining the troubled project, which is expected to cost more than €70 million. Officials from the OPW – which is under a legal obligation to deliver a building for the science centre – appeared before the committee in February.
OPW chairman John Conlon told TDs then that the State agency had no funding to pay for the centre. The PAC also heard no Government department has been willing to become a sponsor to help develop the project.
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Under a 2003 agreement, the OPW committed to delivering a children’s science museum, but the original version of the plan was scuppered by the 2008 economic crash.
Following arbitration in 2013, it was agreed to build a facility adjoining the National Concert Hall (NCH) on Earlsfort Terrace in Dublin. After more recent arbitration proceedings, brought by ICML, the OPW was required to apply for planning permission and to proceed with the construction.
The latest figures for legal costs paid by the OPW are included in correspondence sent to the PAC by Conlon. It states total legal costs to date for the OPW were €1,152,523, with €883,741 covering the legal costs incurred by ICML.
The total includes €307,500 to cover legal costs of ICML agreed in the 2013 settlement and a further sum of €576,241, which represents the amount agreed in settlement of the legal costs for ICML in the arbitration process during 2021 and 2022.
Legal costs for the OPW in preparation for 2013 and 2021 arbitration hearings came to €255,252. Arbitrators’ fees to be paid by the OPW came to €13,530.
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The OPW’s letter to the PAC also says: “There are additional costs awarded against the OPW in Final Award process 2025, in respect of the ICML’s Legal services which have yet to be determined.”
The letter also says that the OPW “uses the services of the Office of the Chief State Solicitor (CSSO) and the Office of the Attorney General (AGO) for legal advice” and the costs associated with this are borne by their respective Government funding allocations.
PAC chairman and Sinn Féin TD John Brady said the level of spending on legal costs was “astonishing”. He claimed it was “long past time” for Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers and the Government to intervene amid concerns over rising costs for the State.
“This is a project with no sponsoring department, no secured funding, no allocation in the National Development Plan, and therefore no path to delivery,” he said. “It is over two months since PAC met with relevant parties in relation to this project, and there seems to have been absolutely no movement towards a resolution.”
In a statement, ICML said “any legal costs incurred to date are a matter for the OPW”. It also said planning permission is in place for the National Children’s Science Centre at Earlsfort Terrace, and given this – and ICML’s commitment to raising €25 million to fit out the museum – “all that remains to be identified is a sponsoring Government department”.
The statement added: “The ICML remain committed to working with Government to bring this wonderful project to life, so that we can inspire and encourage future generations about the transformative potential of science.”
In response to Brady’s comments, a Department of Public Expenditure statement said: “This matter is being led in the first instance by the Office of Public Works, who are keeping the department informed of developments as required. Specific queries regarding costs incurred to date may be directed to the OPW.”
An OPW statement said: “The final [legal] costs have not yet been assessed by the Legal Costs Management Service of the State Claims Agency.”
