Murphy’s Law of “what can go wrong, will go wrong” came to pass on the Irish Parliament when the new printer they ordered would not fit into the building an inquiry heard.
The fopar has been the subject of an inquiry about the printer that was ordered and ended up costing the parliament over €1 million ($1.1 million) because it would not fit into the building.
The large Komori printer cost €808,000 ($889,270) and arrived in December 2018. Only then did the Parliament staff realise that the printer would not fit into the building because initial measurements that were taken, were wrong. The actual size of the printer is 2,1m high and 1,9m wide.
As a result of the measurement error the printer had to be put in storage for ten months at a cost of €2,000 ($2,201) a month while the building works were carried out to get the printer into the parliament building, the Houses of the Oireachtas.
The Irish Times reported that the building works needed was an additional €230,000 ($253,134). The Irish Times managed to obtain the information under the Freedom of Information Act.
According to the report the printer could not be returned because of a signed contract sale, so the work had to commence to ensure the 3,1m height clearance needed, could be achieved.
The printer was finally installed on 28 September.
