Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will move on from the point about responsibility as I want to get into the detail of the audit report. The second paragraph on page 17 states that the total paid to the client representative amounts to €28.4 million including public relations costs compared to the original contract for €8.3 million. The continued employment of the client representative should have been reviewed as far back as 2005 in accordance with procurement guidelines. The guidelines were breached and there is a significant budget overrun. Ms Tallon confirmed earlier that the Department paid some money directly for client representative costs so there is a direct interest there in terms of responsibility. I am wondering whether the Department at any stage asked about the increase in the money being spent or whether the procurement guidelines were being followed.