City Hall has condemned accusations by Fine Gael councillor Pádraig Conneely that there has been a “cover up” over the minor explosion which caused City Hall to be closed for a number of days in June.
A water boiler cylinder exploded in City Hall on June 11 after which a report into the incident was ordered. However three months after the blast the report remains unpublished.
Cllr Conneely has asked for the report at each council meeting since June but “no response was forthcoming,” he said. As a result he is accusing senior officials of engaging in a “cover up” on the issue.
“The explosion could have caused death or injury,” said Cllr Conneely. “The public, councillors, and staff use City Hall on a daily basis and they are entitled to know if the building is now safe.”
A spokesperson for City Hall said “there is no cover up” regarding the blast. He said the matter is currently before the Health & Safety Authority and a report will be published once it has finished its work.
The spokesperson also sought to assure the public that City Hall is “completely safe and has been since it reopened” and any suggestion otherwise is “mischievous”.
“The former city manager Joe MacGrath ordered that the building be closed until all safety checks had been carried out and that it was safe for the public, councillors, and staff to use it again, and that is what was done.”
