Ms Rosemary Collier:

Actually, I was not at the commission at this stage. In November 2020, the commission asked the OPW to attend the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission meeting to talk about the issue of a covered bicycle facility. In April 2021, one senior official from the OPW attended and presented options to the commission and that included the preferred option of outside the 1966 block on the west road. After that meeting, the facilities management team wrote to the OPW the next day saying that was not an acceptable location for the Members, that they were not approving that, and that there were security concerns at that location. The OPW was asked to go and consider locations on the Merrion Square side, specifically in Leinster Lawn. At that point, the OPW did an internal appraisal process and came back to the commission meeting in June of that year with an option adjacent to the National Gallery. That option, which included e-charging, 18 stands and 36 bikes, was approved by the commission.