No formal business case was ever made for the controversial incinerator planned for Poolbeg in Dublin Bay even though €95 million has been spent on the project so far, according to an independent review.
The review, by Capita for Dublin City Council’s audit committee, said this was “a significant departure from generally accepted best practice in project governance, and should be addressed as a matter of priority”.
It also found that no overall budget had been established for the project, which is now estimated to cost €600 million, and there was “no appropriate delineation of functions” between a project advisory board and a project executive board.
As a result, it said there was a risk of "possible self-review" of the project, as well as a lack of reporting and "escalation of issues" from the executive board to the advisory board, gaps in information and "lack of consideration of inherent risk profiles".
Assurance
DIT president Prof Brian Norton, who chairs the audit committee, told Lord Mayor Oisín Quinn it was "still not in a position to provide assurance to the city council that current project governance and risk management arrangements . . . are fit for purpose".
In his response, Dublin city manager Owen Keegan said he was “surprised and disappointed” that Prof Norton made no reference to the changes in project governance for Poolbeg which “have gone a considerable way” in addressing the weaknesses identified by Capita.
Mr Keegan said the project board, which he now chairs, had decided at a meeting on February 19th to adopt a budget of €620,000 for the Poolbeg project until June 30th.
He said the composition and roles of the project executive and advisory boards had been defined and that a “comprehensive report on the business case” for the project had been prepared.
He said this would be presented to the council “before any final decision is made”.
