Eight years late for a €900 book!!

cursai

Don't want to ruin anyones Saturday afternoon. But this is shocking(actually not shocking at all). Pissed me off when someone sent it to me on Facebook. Thats all'
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/eight-years-late-and-six-times-over-budget-a-book-on-the-history-of-st-stephens-green-is-costing-the-taxpayer-900-per-copy-3016510.html

Cool_CM

Nice choice of photo

CamperMan

give the tax payers a copy for FREE

longhalloween

So even if the project had come in at budget, the books would STILL have cost the taxpayer €136 each?!

Sonnenblumen

Another OPW classic spend.

I wonder does the extravagant OPW Tuck Shop stock this book?

bonzodog2

I thought this was going to be about library fines.

TheZohanS

bonzodog2 wrote: »

I thought this was going to be about library fines.

Or 40 year old pedo male librarians.

Duckworth_Luas

Eight years late!

Tome wasn't written in a day!

AnonoBoy

That is some head of hair on Dr. Desmond McCabe.

I'm so jealous.

nlgbbbblth

So how or when do we pay the €900?

Is this something like the Household Charge?

wandatowell

AnonoBoy wrote: »

That is some head of hair on Dr. Desmond McCabe.

I'm so jealous.

He looks like he should be in Dr. Who

Ellis Dee

People of various nationalities were commissioned to write a book on the theme of elephants. The Englishman titled his "The Elephant and Cricket", the Frenchman "The Love Life of the Elephant", the Russian "The Elephant and Vodka", the Italian "The Elephant and the Opera", the German "A Brief Introduction, in Nine Volumes, to Research into Elephant Productivity", the American "The Elephant and the Tea Party" and the Swiss "The Elephant's Perception of Time". The Irishman spent seventeen years looking for elephants in St. Stephen's Green, but found none- So no book.:rolleyes:

44leto

It must be a good book,

8 Years I imagine it will be like the book of kells.

I actually know a bit about the history of Stephens Green, they should have got me to scribe what I know in ornate calligraphy on vellum.

I would have done that in 4 years for 400 a copy.

wandatowell

Ye're mans the bulb off John Spillane too

zuroph

Scandalous, they should throw the book at him.

44leto

zuroph wrote: »

Scandalous, they should throw the book at him.

Yeah and before you do make it the first leadback book.

Augmerson

The Indo is a rag HEY the Indo is a rag HEY tra la la la, tra la la la...

44leto

Augmerson wrote: »

The Indo is a rag HEY the Indo is a rag HEY tra la la la, tra la la la...

But it doesn't take 8 years and is not 900 a copy

Are you the author?

Ostrom

Cant see how any of this is McCabe's fault - the sheer volume of material on the Board of Works / OPW is immense, and it sounds as if they tendered for a loosely defined 'history' with little subsequent editorial guidance, nor any sense of how long such projects usually take.

Regardless of the usual AH hostilities to any sort of productive work which doesn't ultimately make money for someone else - the activities of the Board of Works span an immense time period, including many significant events and projects which continue to impact on Ireland today.

Either way, the fault appears to rest beyond McCabe

Augmerson

44leto wrote: »

But it doesn't take 8 years and is not 900 a copy

Are you the author?

Of the Indo? No. I think that has several authors. Or writers. Or whatever they are calling themselves these days. A rag is a rag man.

hmmm

I work hard, and half of everything I earn is taken from me by the government. That money is spent on this sort of thing - even if it cost half the amount, is it still something that taxpayers money should be spent on? We need a serious rethink about the purpose of government, and what it is we're paying tax for.

Nijmegen

Wasn't there another OPW project of a similar nature, a book on the history of the OPW actually, that had similar problems? Ah yes.

A mere €350,000 over budget at last count.

amacachi

efla wrote: »

Cant see how any of this is McCabe's fault - the sheer volume of material on the Board of Works / OPW is immense, and it sounds as if they tendered for a loosely defined 'history' with little subsequent editorial guidance, nor any sense of how long such projects usually take.

Regardless of the usual AH hostilities to any sort of productive work which doesn't ultimately make money for someone else - the activities of the Board of Works span an immense time period, including many significant events and projects which continue to impact on Ireland today.

Either way, the fault appears to rest beyond McCabe

It's classic stuff, both he and whoever contracted him to do it knew from the start it was impossible in a short timeframe but to admit that would mean he wouldn't get his little hobby job.

oppenheimer1

Nijmegen wrote: »

Wasn't there another OPW project of a similar nature, a book on the history of the OPW actually, that had similar problems? Ah yes.

A mere €350,000 over budget at last count.

That is the same book.

Ostrom

amacachi wrote: »

It's classic stuff, both he and whoever contracted him to do it knew from the start it was impossible in a short timeframe but to admit that would mean he wouldn't get his little hobby job.

Maybe so, but the indo seem intent on houding him (they published a similar piece a few months back), and in the process selectively portraying this as a simple question of economic worth.

This is far from unique - such sales are typical of projects like this, or any works which come from academic publishing houses (such as four courts press for example). They aren't typically comissioned, or entered into by independent authors with an expectation of large profit. It is a sad reflection of the standards by which such projects are valued.

Either way, McCabe's reputation as a researcher deserves more than this.

mickydoomsux

Who/why was this green-lit this in the first place anyway?

A complete and utter waste of time and money. Even if the book ended up costing a buck a copy it would be too much.

This is on par with translating every official document into bog-talk.

Nijmegen

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

That is the same book.

Sure about that? This book is about St. Stephens Green, everything I've heard about that other project is it's a history of the OPW itself. Might be one and the same, I'm not sure.

charlemont

A country packed with clowns could do a better job..

Pyridine

Does anyone else think this guy:

Dr-Desmond-McCabe.jpg

Looks like this one:

Alan_Davies.jpg

Turns out it was a sketch for his comedy routine that went badly wrong for all of us!

amacachi

efla wrote: »

Maybe so, but the indo seem intent on houding him (they published a similar piece a few months back), and in the process selectively portraying this as a simple question of economic worth.

This is far from unique - such sales are typical of projects like this, or any works which come from academic publishing houses (such as four courts press for example). They aren't typically comissioned, or entered into by independent authors with an expectation of large profit. It is a sad reflection of the standards by which such projects are valued.

Either way, McCabe's reputation as a researcher deserves more than this.

I could've told you that it would take most of a lifetime to put together a book under his original remit. He knowingly put himself in a position that would either end in a massive overspend of public funds or in no return for the spending of public funds.

oppenheimer1

Nijmegen wrote: »

Sure about that? This book is about St. Stephens Green, everything I've heard about that other project is it's a history of the OPW itself. Might be one and the same, I'm not sure.

I am certain. The original project was to write a complete history of the OPW, this proved to be too difficult so the project was cut down. The resulting revised and scaled down project was a history of St Stephens Green.

grizzly

Compared to the various tribunals this should have been posted in bargin alerts.

Victor

Reading between the lines, do I get the impression that the guy hasn't been well?

grizzly

Victor wrote: »

Reading between the lines, do I get the impression that the guy hasn't been well?

Yes, it sounds as though he might have been depressed.

"In correspondence, he stated he had been feeling despondent and that he had been reassured as to the value of the text when his “spirits were low”.

Or perhaps or just got really fking bored researching about the corpo for almost a decade!