Up to €450,000 will be spent by the Office of Public Works (OPW) to repair a ceiling in Dublin Castle. The organisation is now accepting bids for a contract to preserve and fix the plaster ceiling of George’s Hall, which was damaged during George V’s 1911 trip to Ireland, reports The Mirror.
The space can hold 180–240 people, depending on the occasion, and is currently utilised for conferences, banquets, and cocktail receptions.
The ceiling is built of 21 coffered sections made of plaster set on timber supports with beautiful cornices, and the OPW is seeking experts to supervise the conservation and repair of the ancient fibrous plaster, reports The Mirror.
The organisation estimates that the contract for the conservation and restoration of the 260 square metre ceiling might be valued up to €450,000, VAT excluded.
According to the procurement paperwork, the ceiling should be finished by the end of next May, with the work taking about 16 weeks.
The Irish Mirror revealed last month that the OPW had purchased three sets of curtains at Dublin Castle for about €70,000. The final fee included the expense of twice sending a consultant and their assistant from the UK to “attend” and “vet [the] putting up of cords and rosettes” on the curtains, reports The Mirror.
“All materials and workmanship throughout must be of the best quality and any inferior materials or practice will not be accepted,” the agency stated in the contract for the supply and installation of curtains on the Battleaxe Landing at the Castle.
In order to “vet [the] putting up of cords and rosettes” on the curtains in November 2018, the OPW paid for a consultant and their assistant to travel from the UK, including a 70-kilometer cab ride from Leeds to Castle Howard, reports The Mirror.
The agency covered the cost of the two people’s flights from London to Dublin later that year, and then they took cabs from the airport to Newbridge House in Donabate, from Donabate to Dublin Castle, and finally a 130-kilometer round-trip from Gatwick Airport.
Even though the project had been finished the year before, the OPW paid the consultant a fee once more and paid for travel expenses from the UK to Dublin Castle in January 2019.
According to the agency, the cashmere-lined curtains, which included Italian-made cords and tassels, were situated in a section of the castle that serves as the background for “many photoshoots of visiting VIPS and dignitaries.” The whole expense came to €68,407, reports The Mirror.
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