Diamuid Gavin's flower show entry cost Irish taxpayer €2.5m - report

bobbysands81

For Forks Sake wrote: »

The words 'resign', 'fired', or for that matter 'accountability' are not in the public/civil service lexicon in this country.

Ah yes... paint 360,000 people with the same negativity brush, never miss a chance to blame ALL public servants for the mistakes of a FEW.

BO-JANGLES

Does Joe Duffy know about this???????

ejmaztec

iamwhoiam wrote: »

Can anyone explain Diarmuid Gavins accent ? I know no one in Ireland who speaks like him ,Was he raised in Templeogue ? No one in Templeogue speaks like that .

I think he invented his own, and it does my head in listening to him.

Words like plate and late become plett and lett for some strange reason. He probably got a grant for designing a new language.

SEPT 23 1989

Whatever bullsh1t Gavin spouts on the Late Late Show he is another member of the golden elite in this country,his own mother in law was banging the master of corruption Charles J. Haughey

Naikon

Tosser:mad:

The gimp of him on the late late show. Something else!

Sir Oxman

the same tosser who turned up on the LLS before Xmas berating the rest of us plebs for whinging and moaning about minimum wages and taxes and the general shtty cut of the country whilst being under the weather...
The same tosser who cheated on a sh|tty two-a-penny UK reality show supposed to get 'celebrities' to give unemployed, 'useless' plebs in the UK a lift and inspire them to do better...he was supposed to live with his designated family yet skipped off to spend his nights in a swish hotel...
I see his 'consultancy' fees and year-on-year fees increased dramatically once the cash was secured by Mr Ireland-will-need-another-bailout-cos-we're-broke Varadkar - cash that's charged @ 5.8%
Tourist attraction my arse.

FTGFOP

Gurden

My name is URL

The garden isn't even that great. They say it'll be 'moved' to Cork (in actuality it will probably cost another million to recreate it).. The focal point of the thing is suspended by a bloody construction crane for christ sake!

I guess it'll symbolise just how feckin dumb this country is!

JohnMarston

My name is URL wrote: »

The garden isn't even that great. They say it'll be 'moved' to Cork (in actuality it will probably cost another million to recreate it).. The focal point of the thing is suspended by a bloody construction crane for christ sake!

I guess it'll symbolise just how feckin dumb this country is!

Relocating in garden? Only in Ireland :rolleyes:

FTGFOP

For another 200k he'll cover the crane in ivy. Great Vulue!

R P McMurphy

They should relocate the garden to Bertie's gaff in recognition of his service to country

force majeure

Is this the same guy who was on the telly off late dolling up towns around the country while getting in every ones nerves. GFM:rolleyes:

FTGFOP

pmct wrote: »

I don't think DG is really to blame here I think it the fools who approached him in the first place and then signed off on a garden that was going to cost 2.3m are. The way public projects are done in this country 200k isn't all that big of an overrun.

He bears some responsibility, surely. Looking at his costings it's clear he didn't give any deals out of love for Ireland.

JonathanAnon

I am just wondering how the timing of this fits with his Late Late Show rant last year.. He seemed to be VERY stressed that night.. I wonder was it about the same time that he was writing those letters to Liz O'Donnell .. i.e.

'I am bewildered and very nearly broken... the reputation I have garnered over the years at Chelsea will be gone forever'

That night he went on about how when he was younger, when passing Trinity his mother said to him "that place aint for the likes of us".. He's obviously more indulged than oppressed these days.

iamwhoiam

FTGFOP wrote: »

Gurden

He was talking about his gurden on the Lett Lett showw . He got handed a few million on a plet . . More fool those who gave it to him


.,http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392010/The-secret-war-Diarmuid-Gavin-s-2-5m-winning-Chelsea-Flower-Show-garden.html

StupidLikeAFox

If 2.5m was given to the Tidy Towns, to be distributed either as prize money or in the form of grants, it would do an awful lot more to clean up the country, and have way more benefit than having one garden in Cork

ctrl-alt-delete

Article wrote:

Welcoming news of Gavin’s success in Chelsea, Fáilte Ireland said it believed the garden, which is being relocated to Cork, would “significantly boost Cork tourism” in terms of visitor numbers and revenue for this year. The tourist group said that the garden would give Cork city an icon along the lines of the London Eye or the Eiffel tower.

What a load of rubbish!

I can't see a glorified hanging basket having any appeal!!

bamboozle

this is incredible, recession, what recession

did he not have to provide costings prior to submitting his project, was the project not approved and agreed based on costings?

SeaFields

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

What a load of rubbish!

I can't see a glorified hanging basket having any appeal!!

^^ On the ball.

So much more could have been done in terms of €2.5m lying around for a tourist initiative.

And I suppose he'll be given a contract to for the upkeep/maintenance of the thing too. :rolleyes:

Lantus

As a nation we are truly doomed to repeat all our past mistakes if we simply let money flow out of us into projects like this. Still spending money like there is a million monkeys printing the stuff off in the back office and it will never run out.

Firstly, this show is in the UK and won't directly benefit Ireland at all. It's for the rich and famous to be seen at. It's pomp and ceremony. Wonderful yes. But not when we hand over 2+ million. Thats sickening and just stupid.

Has anyone ever heard of the word budget??? You say, ok, you have €250,000. Do what you can with that. If you want more you can fundraise privately or add to it with your own money.

There wont be any real indirect benefit to Ireland from this either. Tourists wont flock to Ireland based on this garden. In fact most probably wont even identify it as Irish at all.

I used to believe in the rule of law and paying all your bills. But not now. If I can get away with anything then then why not. The rich have gotten away with murder having destroyed our economy and not a single one was held accountable. I've learned a valuable lesson. Greed, lies and an amoral attitude is the way to go.

Shame on you DG, your a disgrace to your country.

redux

The EU is going to love it next time we go in with the begging bowl and squeal famine.

Don't you just love our country, still awash with the ego of yesterday and the ability to spend on everything, except what is necessary.

gman2k

Christ, €2.5m wasted on this fcuking sh1te.

And nothing will be done about it.
The county manager should be fired immediately. The minister of the Environment should drag him to a meeting before the weekend and fire him.

Why is a local authority in this country allowed to divert public funds to tourism? When they can't even carry out the functions they are meant to carry out?

A better use of €2.5m would be to give out 5000 €500 vouchers for Irish hotels at the fcuking garden show and not put an entrant in. That way, you would be guaranteed some return on your investment.

No wonder business people are going out of their minds when they see rates at extortionate levels and cash being burnt by county councils.

JonathanAnon

Lantus wrote: »

Has anyone ever heard of the word budget??? You say, ok, you have €250,000. Do what you can with that.

Is there any chart of how much was spent on the gardens that came second, third, fourth etc in the category he won.. Surely there must be something in the rules in Chelsea to prevent the competition being "bought"...

And a crane in a gurten... I mean I cant think of anything more unnatural than having a huge lump of metal sitting adjacent to your garden.. Did he invest some of the money in a cloaking device for the crane ..

Sir Oxman

SeaFields wrote: »

^^ On the ball.

So much more could have been done in terms of €2.5m lying around for a tourist initiative.

And I suppose he'll be given a contract to for the upkeep/maintenance of the thing too. :rolleyes:

Yep, 50k+ a year for the next two years.

HellFireClub

SeaFields wrote: »

^^ On the ball.

So much more could have been done in terms of €2.5m lying around for a tourist initiative.

And I suppose he'll be given a contract to for the upkeep/maintenance of the thing too. :rolleyes:

And the deluded marderins in the local authority reckon that there is some kind of return on this in terms of tourism, spinning away at the rubbish and the PR... "Hmmm, I think I'll head over to Ireland to see this hanging basket"... GET REAL!

HellFireClub

gman2k wrote: »

Christ, €2.5m wasted on this fcuking sh1te.

And nothing will be done about it.
The county manager should be fired immediately. The minister of the Environment should drag him to a meeting before the weekend and fire him.

Why is a local authority in this country allowed to divert public funds to tourism? When they can't even carry out the functions they are meant to carry out?

A better use of €2.5m would be to give out 5000 €500 vouchers for Irish hotels at the fcuking garden show and not put an entrant in. That way, you would be guaranteed some return on your investment.

No wonder business people are going out of their minds when they see rates at extortionate levels and cash being burnt by county councils.

The problem with every one of these public sector loo-laa's is that they are not held to account by anyone. Performance reviews are non existant or where they do exist are not tied to salary increments, so there is no appreciation for value for money within their little PS bubble.

You can see what they have also done here, thown out a loose and very wooly statement about it causing tourists to come to Ireland.

Can this return be measured?!? NO! These guys love doing this, making grand notional statements that cannot be verified or measured. I'd say that if you cannot measure the return on the investment then the investment doesn't get made in the first place, end of story.

Wibbs

My blood is actually boiling over this unbelievable waste of money. Just so that ego in wellies can sit smug with a Chelsea gold? TBH what were they thinking? He's hardly great shakes as a garden designer. Well beyond his one trick pony idea.

Want a garden like his? Get clients to collect pics and ideas and "feelings" about the "space". Aside; anyone who uses the word space in garden or house design, punch them. Punch them hard. In the face. Ignore clients cos you're an artist. Level everything unless you've a "feature tree", plant either in rigid rectilinear fashion or for an extra cost a few curves. Then build a massively out of scale glorified gazebo out of girders. Again for extra cost throw in a few curves. For even more money put it on stilts(the crane was the natural conclusion). Add fancy furniture that will be like a soggy ciggie butt after the first rains. For full effect paint the daft oversized eyesore a "wild" colour. Add outdoor lighting and a fire pit. Tree ferns a given. Stand smugly back. That'll be 50,000 quid consultancy fee. The workers may have to wait for their cash mind. Thank you and goodbye. PS I'll throw in the stupid fúcking accent for free. BTE Gavin, you're supposed to remove the marbles from your mouth after the elocution lesson is over.

As for the tourist value? What. The. Jumping. Fúck. Forget accent mangler. Somebody in local government/civil service is on drugs and not the doctor approved ones. 2 and a half million? On that? Sweet zombie Jesus. 500k for a crane? Are they claiming that's the hire of it? You could buy a fúcking crane for that. I really thought I'd heard everything. Jesus.

ejmaztec

Titchmarsh would piss all over him.

beer enigma

Gavin was on the phone to Ray Darcy last Wednesday & Darcy asked him why he wasn't there when the medal was awarded and the cameras were looking for an interview.

Gavin said he didn't like publicity and took himself off to the sea-side and switched his phone off.

Let alone the money ploughed into it, he couldn't even bother to stay around and publicise it !!!

JohnMarston

This is what you pay taxes for :pac:

Honestly i'd prefer it to be invested into the dept. of silly walks than this.