{"id":15047,"date":"2026-01-15T12:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T12:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=15047"},"modified":"2026-01-15T12:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T12:29:14","slug":"nta-must-explain-how-costs-ballooned-by-e500000-for-south-dublin-park-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/nta-must-explain-how-costs-ballooned-by-e500000-for-south-dublin-park-project\/","title":{"rendered":"NTA must explain how costs ballooned by \u20ac500,000 for south Dublin park project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The National Transport Authority (NTA) must explain how the construction of 14 steps and a ramp in a south Dublin park ended up costing more than \u20ac500,000 above the original estimate, according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Farrelly, who sits on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the eventual bill of \u20ac750,000 for the Deer Park project in Mount Merrion was already in the public domain, it has now come to light through a Freedom of Information request that this scheme was originally estimated to cost \u20ac200,000. It is incomprehensible that the steps and ramp should end up costing almost four times more than that figure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven though the project was developed by D\u00fan Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, active travel funding was provided by the NTA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe NTA must now explain why costs ballooned by half a million euro during the construction phase of this scheme.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWere other alternatives considered \u2013 including a \u2018do nothing\u2019 option or a redesign of existing entrances to the park \u2013 and were consultants engaged to advise on this? Was a value for money report provided?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas there any oversight of this project and who signed off on such a huge increase on the initial estimate?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs taxpayers\u2019 money is involved here, I have asked the NTA to provide PAC with all internal correspondence with the local authority relating to this project.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>January 15, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Transport Authority (NTA) must explain how the construction of 14 steps and a ramp in a south Dublin park ended up costing more than \u20ac500,000 above the original estimate, according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly. Deputy Farrelly, who sits on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said: \u201cWhile the eventual bill of \u20ac750,000 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[396,692,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aidan-farrelly","category-pac","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>NTA must explain how costs ballooned by \u20ac500,000 for south Dublin park project - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/nta-must-explain-how-costs-ballooned-by-e500000-for-south-dublin-park-project\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NTA must explain how costs ballooned by \u20ac500,000 for south Dublin park project - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The National Transport Authority (NTA) must explain how the construction of 14 steps and a ramp in a south Dublin park ended up costing more than \u20ac500,000 above the original estimate, according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly. 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