Several sittings of the Dáil and Seanad have taken place in the Convention Centre in recent months to allow for compliance with social distancing guidelines, with it costing around €25,000 a day to do so.
A Fianna Fáil senator has now claimed that taxpayers' money has been wasted by holding Oireachtas sittings in the Centre.
Senator Eugene Murphy has described the cost as “a huge waste of money”: “Remember with the crisis in the economy now over Covid, every penny is going to be important.
“So, you will find that many Oireachtas people in the Dáil and Seanad are extremely annoyed over this, and would prefer to see us getting back to Leinster House, and however we arrange it, do all of our business there, both in the Seanad and in the Dáil.”
Social distancing
Oireachtas authorities have had difficulty finding a way for all 160 members to vote and respect social distancing in the more cramped Leinster House.
The Dáil currently sits in the Convention Centre when all members need to be present to vote, with the first sitting held on June 27th, when TDs met to elect Micheál Martin as Taoiseach.
The Seanad currently mostly sits in the Dáil Chamber in Leinster House, but initially sat in the Convention Centre.
The total cost of Dáil and Seanad sittings in the centre was €499,476 from the end of June up to the summer recess at the end of July.
The Convention Centre is not charging for the use of the centre, and the costs mainly relate to staffing and broadcast technology.
I think it isn’t possible for us to follow the NPHET guidelines and do voting for us to sit every day in Leinster House.
A number of political parties and groups have now put proposals forward to return all Government business back to Leinster House.
However, Rise TD Paul Murphy has said some sittings in the facility are necessary in order to follow public health guidelines: “I think it isn’t possible for us to follow the NPHET guidelines and do voting for us to sit every day in Leinster House.
“That isn’t possible, it isn’t big enough for that. So the services did say that they looked at, I think it was 10 different buildings, and the most cost-effective building was the Convention Centre.”
