© Niall Carson/PA Wire Taoiseach Leo Varadkar talks to the media in the Hell's Kitchen district of New York City, the latest stop on his visit to the US

Leo Varadkar has distanced himself from the Dail printer scandal after a report found the total cost hit €1.8million.

Yesterday, members of the Public Accounts Committee called for further accountability over the fiasco.

As well as fears of costs, the printer was too big and could not fit in the room where it was being housed.

Video: Varadkar responds to Dáil question about remittances (The Journal)

Fianna Fail’s Marc MacSharry said: “This has been a total pig’s ear. People are entitled to look for a head.”

Yesterday, Mr Varadkar insisted the costs were a matter for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission.

“I do want to be abundantly clear on this, I think sometimes people often lump everything in the public service all together as if it’s all controlled by the Government, that’s not the case.

“This is a matter for the Oireachtas, the Government doesn’t control the Oireachtas. This isn’t our business.”

The report, which was compiled by Dail clerk Peter Finnegan, showed the bill for the printer, including VAT, was €1.369million.

It emerged at the weekend Oireachtas staff spent €808,000 on the Komori machine, which also included structural costs.

Extra bills for construction work on the ceiling of the room where it is being housed came to €229,000 excluding VAT, while there were also additional costs of €195,000 from the Office of Public Works.

© PA Wire/PA Images An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar speaking at the Future Jobs Ireland Summit at Trinity College in Dublin. (Photo by Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images)

But when it was delivered in December last year, staff discovered it was too big and could not fit in the space. It was put into storage until September.

It is also understood the machine has not yet been used as staff say they need training to use it. A forklift will also be needed to load paper into the machine.

Mr Varadkar stressed the costs associated with the printer are public funds which are not controlled by the coalition.

He said: “This is not a Government department. This is not a State agency. These are Houses of the Oireachtas, they’re controlled separate from government.

“It up to the Ceann Comhairle and the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission to account for that.”

Leinster House, Dail Eireann, Kildare St. Dublin, designed by Richard Cassels. It is currently now houses The National Parliament of Ireland

Sinn Fein’s David Cullinane told the PAC: “It is twice the size of any printer staff have used before.

“They actually have to use a forklift in a very tight space to load up the paper.”

“We still, in my view, do not have the full costs, there may be more costs.”

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy also told the PAC there could

be a fire safety risk with the new machine.

She said: “Clearly you don’t want Kildare House to end up going on fire.”

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