WORKERS FROM a building company that is owed more than €150,000 by a Dublin national school, protested yesterday outside the extension they completed in September 2008.
Dublin based Rianna Construction Ltd has not received payment for a bill amounting to €151,000 from St Brigid’s Boys National School in Killester despite a High Court order in February 2011 instructing the school to pay the sum.
“Basically we are just trying to highlight awareness to the fact that despite a High Court judgment, we haven’t been paid for works completed on site” said Donal Tuttle, managing director of Rianna Construction Ltd.
As a result of not being paid, two people in the company have lost their jobs due to a lack of cash flow, according to Mr Tuttle, who added that he is still paying off a personal loan he took out to pay for materials.
Chairman of the school's board of management, Msgr Alex Stenson, refused to comment on the matter when contacted by The Irish Times, saying that the issue was being handled by their lawyers at Mason, Hayes and Curran law firm.
Rory Kirrane, head of construction law at the firm, said that the school board had addressed all the claims made by Rianna Construction “fully in accordance with the terms of the board’s obligations under the Education Acts and on the advice of its solicitors.”
“The legal issues arising are complex and have resulted in detailed exchanges – the board is disappointed that Rianna Construction Ltd has chosen to engage in public protest in relation to legal matters which are beyond the control of the board” he said.
Mr Tuttle said he has been forced to raise awareness about the situation as he believes the school is refusing to access funds available to it to pay the outstanding bill.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said while they consider it a matter for the school authority, it has indicated to the board that funding is available to cover the costs of works carried out at the school and that so far no application has been received.
A letter sent from the Office of the Minister for Education to lawyers representing Rianna Construction, dated May 2011, and seen by The Irish Times, stated that the department “is not party to the contract and therefore not in a position to directly intervene in the current situation”.
It said that difficulties had arisen between the board of management and the building company during construction and that the board were “of the view that the works were not completed to their satisfaction.”
Mr Tuttle said the school’s claims about unsatisfactory work were untrue, pointing out that the extension has been in use since its completion in September 2008.
He also argued his company faced “substantial difficulties” during construction including failure by the board and the architect it hired to provide construction drawings as well as a failure to submit commencement notifications to Dublin City Council or to apply for a mandatory fire certificate from Dublin Fire Brigade prior to the scheduled completion date.
Despite these, work was completed on schedule, he said.