Ms Geraldine Tallon:

I would not like to give the impression that I am shirking responsibility here because that is not the case. I have identified and said to the Deputy that I am concerned by the findings of this report. This report is new and recent, and we are absorbing it. At the same time the position, as I have outlined it to the Deputy's colleague, is that local authority management is responsible to the elected members of the local authority and the Local Government Audit Service reports to the elected members of the local authority.

The Deputy said the elected members have no responsibility in relation to this project, but they absolutely have responsibility because they vote money - they are the people who determine the budget for Dublin City Council on an annual basis. This is spend from Dublin City Council's budget. It is absolutely the job of the Dublin City Council elected members and their audit committee to assess this and to raise questions or to address it as they see fit.