Tag Archives: RPS

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Elizabeth Arnett, the current spokesperson for Irish Water and former spokesperson for RPS Consulting Engineering 

On RTÉ Radio One’s This Week programme yesterday, journalist John Burke reported that, after five years and €2.2million in legal fees paid by Dublin City Council, the council has dropped its Supreme Court appeal against a High Court judgement made by Mr Justice Liam McKechnie in 2010.

In his judgement, Judge McKechnie found RPS Consulting Engineering – which had been hired by Dublin City Council to carry out a review of Dublin’s waste policy – had altered official data and waste reports to suit Dublin City Council’s agenda.

He also heavily criticised the then assistant city manager Matt Twomey.

In his ruling, Judge McKechnie said:

“In the course of the hearing, a number of draft reports, prepared by RPS and Dr Francis O’Toole were handed up to the court which contained comments written by the respondents indicating which parts of earlier drafts were acceptable to them and either deleting or rewording those parts which would not have supported their position. Whether or not the city managers were aware of this fact is, in my opinion, immaterial. Mr Twomey certainly was. Such massaging of reports which were later, in their edited versions, released publicly is a strong indicator to me of unacceptable influence in a process supposedly carried out in the public interest. Some view must have been formed in order for the process to start. However, in my opinion, the actions of the respondents in this case, and particularly Mr Twomey, go far beyond this. The indicator rigidity of mind so that from the start there could have been no other outcome. This is particularly serious, notwithstanding any subsequent public consultation. It is clear that such consultation not only did not have, but could not have had any affect on the outcome of the the variation process. It was a given from the start.”

On yesterday’s programme, Mr Burke played a clip from RPS’s then spokesperson, Elizabeth Arnett – the current Head of Communications and Corporate Service at Irish Water – after the ruling was made.

She told RTÉ’s Prime Time:

“RPS were certainly not massaging the figures and I want to categorically refute that. In producing a final report, you produce drafts and you edit and you consult with your client, to make sure you get the right result, that is the way we produce reports. That you get a report, that the figures can stand up. The Environmental Protection Agency can approve, the EPA can approve and all of the statue bodies can approve…We stand over all of the reports. We would never change fact and we would never change our opinion. We might reword, we might delete, we might sharpen up text, to edit it. We would never change fact and we would never change opinion. We make our money on our reputation to be able to provide facts and to provide opinion. I think the entire judgement is wrong.”

Readers will recall that, in November 2013, it emerged Dublin City Council had paid more than €30 million to RPS for its services over the previous ten years in relation to the Poolbeg incinerator, even though the council’s contract with RPS was originally estimated at €8.3million.

The European Commission eventually found that the contract did not conform with EU law.

Readers may also wish to recall that Jerry Grant, a former managing director of RPS from 2002 until 2012, is now Irish Water’s head of asset management.

There you go now.

Listen back in full here

Council drops appeal against Poolbeg incinerator judgment (Irish Times)

Previously:  The Insiders

‘The Contract Did Not Conform With EU Law’

Screen Shot 2014-07-14 at 11.12.06[Phil Hogan]

Last Tuesday, during Leader’s Questions, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams raised concerns about how Phil Hogan appointed a former technical director with RPS consulting engineers, Conall Boland, to the position of deputy chairman of An Bord Pleanála in May 2012, alleging that this position was never advertised.

Mr Boland was first appointed to An Bord Pleanála on January 1, 2007, and was then reappointed for a two-year term in 2011 until December 31, 2013. Since he was appointed deputy chairman in 2012, his position has been renewed until December 31, 2018.

In the Dáil on Tuesday, Mr Adams said:

“[Phil Hogan] appointed as deputy chairperson of An Bord Pleanála an individual who was the former technical director of RPS consulting engineers, a private company that framed a series of controversial projects which have come before An Bord Pleanála. The Minister also extended this person’s term of office. This individual voted to approve contentious projects on which RPS Group was a consultant, which had been rejected by An Bord Pleanála inspectors. These include an apartment development in Dún Laoghaire and a sewage treatment scheme in County Donegal. He also approved a controversial wind farm at Cullenagh, County Laois. These clearly raise questions of a conflict of interest. RPS Group consultants also advised EirGrid to install overhead pylons, and they were also among the consultants employed at a cost of €85 million by Uisce Éireann…”

The next day, Wednesday, Mr Adams returned to the matter during Leader’s Questions, and asked Mr Kenny:

“Does the Taoiseach agree that a situation whereby the deputy chairperson of An Bord Pleanála is overseeing planning applications drawn up by his former employees may represent a conflict of interest?”

Taoiseach Enda Kenny replied:

“I am not aware of a conflict of interest. I hope that answers the Deputy’s question – the answer is “No”. All of the positions on An Bord Pleanála were publicly advertised. The answer to that is “Yes”. That is clear.”

Mr Adams responded:

“This one was not.”

Yesterday, Sarah McInerney and Stephen O’Brien, in The Sunday Times, reported that the majority of Ireland’s MEPs are opposed to the nomination of Phil Hogan as European Commissioner and plan to campaign against him getting this position with Sinn Féin particularly focussing on the appointment of Conall Boland.

Readers may recall how last November the European Commission ordered Dublin
City Council to terminate its contract with RPS for client services and public relations at the Poolbeg incinerator after it described the contract as an “illegal situation”.

The contract cost around €30million even though it was originally estimated to be €8.3million.

Readers may also recall how RPS advised Dublin City Council on the Poolbeg incinerator project while John Tierney was Dublin City Manager. Mr Tierney is now the managing director of Irish Water and two former executives with RPS are now working for Irish Water.

Former managing director of RPS Jerry Grant is Irish Water’s head of asset management while former head of project communications at RPS, Elizabeth Arnett, is now head of communications and corporate services at Irish Water.

Readers may also be interested to note that Conall Boland also advised Dublin City Council on its plans for the Poolbeg incinerator and the procurement of the contractor for the project when he worked at RPS. According to an article in the Irish Times in 2006, Mr Boland was also involved in preparing the waste strategy for Dublin.

In November 2006, when it was announced that the then Fianna Fáil Environment Minister Dick Roche had appointed Mr Boland to An Bord Pleanála, the then Green Party chairman John Gormley raised concerns.

The Irish Times reported at the time:

His appointment to the planning board represents a “serious conflict of interest”, Green Party chairman John Gormley said last night. “The fact that the Minister would, at this stage, appoint somebody connected with the project to the board is deeply worrying. Even more worrying is the fact that Mr Boland seems to have been responsible for the most recent review of the Dublin regional waste management plan,” he said.

Mr Gormley said he did not question Mr Boland’s competence, but said the Minister had put Mr Boland in a “very uncomfortable position”.

 

An Bord Pleanála (Board members)

Leader’s Questions, via Kildarestreet.com, on Tuesday here and Wednesday here

Previously: Thicker Than Uisce

Photocall Ireland

90296280Poolbefg

[Former Dublin City Manager John Tierney, now head of Irish Water and Poolbeg incinerator plans]

This morning, Environment Editor of the Irish Times Frank McDonald reports on a local government audit into the money spent by Dublin City Council to relocate a firm in Dublin Port, to allow for the building of the Poolbeg incinerator.

Mr McDonald reports that Dublin City Council paid almost €22million to relocate cargo handlers firm, Westway Terminals Hibernian Ltd.The council was obliged to help Westway and pay for their new premises.

However, Mr McDonald reports that Dublin City Council paid nearly twice the original contract of €11.9million.

In total, the relocation of Westway cost €31million.

Meanwhile, he also reports that the audit looked at the contract between Dublin City Council and RPS, a contract which the European Commission subsequently found was in breach EU rules late last year and will be terminated on January 31.

Mr McDonald reported the local government auditor found financial management was weak while there were concerns raised about the lack of minutes recorded.

He reported:

“The auditor concluded: ‘it is evident that the financial management . . . has been weak’ and said ‘no proper classification of expenditure on an invoice basis was available to account for monies spent’ on Poolbeg by council management.

“’There is no evidence of monitoring of detailed budgets or financial forecasts . . . or that detailed monthly/quarterly reports were examined to control expenditure, apart from client representative summary reports presented to DCC management.’

He said the project executive board – headed by former assistant city manager Matt Twomey – “did not meet on a formal basis and therefore no minutes of meetings were retained”.

Meanwhile, on Prime Time last night, Fintan O’Toole also spoke about the RPS contract with Dublin City Council and the same audit referred to above, in light of the fact that the CEO of Irish Water John Tierney was hired just weeks after the audit was issued.

“John Tierney was the accounting officer, he was the person for whom the buck stopped in relation to that. So it would be very interesting to know was John Tierney asked, at his interview, about his record? Was he asked what he had learned about the hiring of consultants, was he asked what he had learned about major infrastructural projects and how they should be manager in the public interest? I suspect he probably wasn’t.

Watch the full episode here

Previously: Incinerating Poolbeg

(Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)