Iarnród Éireann has insisted that the cost of Ceannt Station’s ongoing redevelopment is still within the budget announced in 2023, despite subsequent delays, significant inflation, requested design changes, wildlife issues, and announcements of significant overruns and budgetary changes from other public officials.
The railway operator said that the current budget for the project remains in line with the €69.5m estimate of total costs as outlined in the redevelopment’s Final Business case from July, 2023.
The cost of labour in Ireland’s construction sector has risen substantially by 18.5% since this time according to figures from the Central Statistics Office.
When approached by the Advertiser recently, the railway operator said it has “full oversight of the budget at all times” as the sponsoring agency with responsibility for the delivery of this project but was still unable to provide a breakdown of funding from various sources.
Funding for the project comes from two main sources: the National Transport Authority (NTA ), via the Department of Transport, and the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF ), via the Department of Housing.
As reported in the Advertiser last month, €12m in URDF funding had initially been earmarked for the Ceannt Quarter Regeneration project, which includes the redevelopment of the station.
Information provided by the Department of Housing indicated that the original allocation of funding is no longer in place, although the current level of funding from this source was not disclosed.
However, Iarnród Éireann has appeared to contradict the information from the Department of Housing and Galway City Council officials and told the Advertiser; “Statements that there are cost overruns or ‘secret budgets’ for the project are simply untrue.”
Last year, the city council’s Director of Services also announced that money had been diverted away from three other transport projects in Galway because the budget for the station’s redevelopment had been “significantly overrun.”
Elected representatives on Galway City Council have claimed that the local authority has been kept “unaware” of the costings, with Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG ) calling for them to be made public.
It has also emerged that the project, which was originally due to be finished this month, is now expected to be completed in November.
It was agreed in the contract for the redevelopment that BAM, the construction company overseeing the project, would be entitled to charge a delay rate of €17,000 per day.
BAM is also overseeing the construction of the National Children’s Hospital.
Both the Department of Transport and the Department of Housing were approached repeatedly over the month by the Advertiser to provide details on the current budget for the project.
No information was provided from either department.
