Irish Parliament Counts Cost of €1m Printer Error
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50563977
Irish Govt Blows a1M On Mega-Printer Too Big For Parliament's DoorsAn inquiry has begun into how staff at the Irish parliament spent more than a1m (857,000) on a printer that was too big to fit into the building.
The printer, measuring 2.1m (6ft 8in) high and 1.9m (6ft 2 in) wide, was bought last year at a cost of a808,000.
When officials realised it would not fit, they spent an additional a236,000 tearing down walls and embedding structural steel to house the machine.
The printer was placed in storage at a cost of a2,000 a month during the work.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Officials failed to ensure there was at least 3.1 metres in height clearance to get the thing in, according to the Irish Times. In reality, there just wasn't enough space. The state-of-the-art printer is described in press reports as being 2.1 metres high and 1.9 metres wide, so either there's confusion over the measurements or you need more than 3 metres to negotiate it in.
By the time the government realized its mistake, it was too late to return the printer as the contract had already been signed. So instead, officials had to "tear down walls and embed structural steel" to fit the contraption, according to RTE on Tuesday.
But that's not the only havoc the printer has caused. Some employees are refusing to be trained on how to use the machine, sticking a metaphorical middle finger to the government in a bid to negotiate a pay rise for using the new equipment.
What's more, the IT department is hesitant to grant access to the printer, making it difficult to print documents from official government computers.
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