{"id":571615,"date":"2026-07-28T06:14:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T06:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/571615\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T06:14:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T06:14:22","slug":"fears-of-people-listening-at-doors-raised-in-scathing-email-to-opw-about-lansdowne-house-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/571615\/","title":{"rendered":"Fears of people \u2018listening at doors\u2019 raised in scathing email to OPW about Lansdowne House \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The head of the Workplace Relations Commission<\/a> (WRC) complained of \u201csheer despair\u201d over delays in remediating defects and expanding its Dublin office. <\/p>\n

WRC director general Audrey Cahill wrote to the head of the Office of Public Works<\/a> (OPW) in May outlining \u201csheer despair at this juncture about the lack of insight or engagement\u201d from the OPW on a range of issues at the building \u2013 including addressing the risk of people \u201clistening at the door\u201d to sensitive hearings or confidential negotiations on public pay. <\/p>\n

Works to a wall at Lansdowne House in Dublin<\/a>, previously undertaken by the OPW, caused a big controversy when it emerged the cost ran to \u20ac490,000.<\/p>\n

Documents released under freedom-of-information legislation show the WRC worried more controversy could arise from works to repair the \u201ccrumbling\u201d facade of the building \u2013 which had dragged on for years amid fears that it could be \u201cremedial and expensive\u201d. <\/p>\n

Cahill told OPW chairman John Conlan that scaffolding had been up at the building for five years to protect people \u201cfrom pieces of concrete falling on them\u201d, complaining that \u201cwe have no insight into where this project is currently at\u201d. <\/p>\n

With journalists regularly attending the building, the WRC was placed in a \u201cprecarious position\u201d regarding \u201cscrutiny into any works here as has already been witnessed in the context of the wall project\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Cost of rebuilding wall outside Workplace Relations Commission doubled to \u20ac490,000Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The WRC also worried that limited space available to it could lead to sensitive hearings being breached, seeking extra room in the building in light of an expanded workload and remit. <\/p>\n

She said that unless WRC staff were tasked with following members of the press or public around there was no way to prevent people \u201cwandering into a meeting of a confidential nature or indeed listening outside the door\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cA key example of a risk would be the upcoming public pay talks,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe rooms are not soundproof, and it is not difficult to hear the conversations in the rooms when you are outside them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cahill told the Department of Enterprise<\/a> secretary general she was \u201creally frustrated with OPW and the complete and utter lack of engagement no matter how hard we try\u201d. <\/p>\n

The documents show Cahill previously told Declan Hughes the WRC had \u201cpushed hard\u201d to have an extra floor of the building refurbished but \u201cit has all fallen on deaf ears with no plan for the additional space that we would now say is business critical\u201d.<\/p>\n

She also said there was a \u201cveil of secrecy and mystery\u201d around a new tenant taking two floors of the new building, complaining that the WRC had not been \u201cafforded the courtesy of some engagement and discussion about who is coming in\u201d.<\/p>\n

In reply to various pieces of correspondence Hughes said he shared the concerns \u2013 and sought to calm the situation, saying he had understood there was a solution at hand and that he had raised it with the OPW. <\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for the Department of Enterprise said the WRC was an independent office and engages directly with the OPW on accommodation.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for the OPW said Lansdowne House, built in the 1960s, is \u201cone of the most significant examples of postwar modernist commercial architecture in Ireland\u201d and had been built with on-site manufactured precast concrete units in the facade. <\/p>\n

However, these have deteriorated, requiring \u201cnecessary ongoing repairs\u201d. The OPW has been monitoring the situation since 2021 and is \u201cin the process of considering the most appropriate solution to the facade defects\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe OPW collaborates closely with the WRC on an ongoing basis, including attending regular meetings at senior management level. The current occupants have identified accommodation needs and, in co-operation with the WRC, agreed solutions are being progressed\u201d. <\/p>\n

The OPW did not provide an expected budget for the works or costs incurred to date.<\/p>\n

The WRC did not respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) complained of \u201csheer despair\u201d over delays in remediating defects and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[17467,72,38262,4506,61,60,32235,6465],"class_list":["post-571615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-ballsbridge","tag-business","tag-department-of-enterprise-trade-and-employment","tag-dublin-4","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-office-of-public-works","tag-workplace-relations-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}