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

I appreciate Ms Tallon's concern, but my problem is that it has not been present previously. The problem with financial and governance weaknesses did not just appear from out of the air. They have always been there.

I will make two final points on the city manager's response. When he refers to the delays and why the client representative costs overran, my interpretation is that blame is being placed on the fact that the project was submitted to public scrutiny. I will not ask Ms Tallon to comment, but I would not accept any such viewpoint.

I am alarmed by the second last paragraph on page 22, which reads: "Arrangements have now been put in place to engage separate Client Representative services for the Construction and Commissioning phase of the project." The client representative services have overrun by 200% to date, are in breach of procurement guidelines and have been run appallingly. No one in the area, elected or non-elected, believes they should be used. Currently, there is no private financing for them. Money is being spent, yet the manager's response to the report is to continue spending money on client representative services, which comprise only a part of the project. We are not even discussing the build. This is frustrating. I wished to make this point because our committee has a responsibility in this regard. Ms Tallon stated that she had concerns and an interest, but she also has responsibility. The committee must keep this project on its radar until it is concluded and finally, I hope, put to bed. Where public money is concerned, there is a tendency not to admit when it has been spent badly. We should not throw good money after bad.