The cost of building the original Red and Green Lines was €728m . It was envisaged in the original plans that the Green Line would meet the Red Line at O’Connell Street.
I worked on the building of it with three different employers at three different stages. It was some craic. There was a story going about the rampant scams ran from the office about the culture of ‘dead men’ that was allegedly being practiced. Basically, cooking the books that there were more men working there than there actually was and the few involved in the scam divvying the profit. The story goes that one of the many sub-contracter’s phone rang and it was one of the lads in the office, who was in on the scam. He informed him that there was an inspection by the top brass and representatives from a government department the following day on one of the stretches towards Tallaght and we need to find men to be there. The sub-contracter replied that there wasn’t an idle man left in the capital or rural Ireland, but he had no option. The dead men were supposed to be there. The next morning the sub-contracter arrived with a few vans at an area in town frequented by homeless and drunks and rounded up a large crew and told them they’d be paid handsomely and given plenty of drink. They were driven out to the spot, all handed wheelbarrows and shovels and told to look busy. He informed them that he’d left a pile of cider in behind the high wall and they could go in ones and twos and rotate. The boys nodded away. Fast forward to the inspection and the lads in shirts and white helmets climbed out of their cars to find no workers at the spot they were to be shown. However, behind the wall they could hear noises and the closer they got to it, they realised it was a sing-song bellowed out by the new recruits.