Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It would have changed the footprint. The reason previously given to this committee for the rejection, which, of course, was totally wrong, was that the footprint was too small and that there is a much bigger footprint at Saint James’s Hospital. That was not the reason An Bord Pleanála rejected the initial planning application. It rejected it because it was totally loony. It was for a 16-storey building which could not accommodate a helicopter landing on the roof. It was in breach of the Dublin city development plan and the local area plan - two statutory plans. How in God’s name could a design team have gone in to An Bord Pleanála with these breaches of statutory compliance? I do not see any of that in the analysis that has been presented to this committee. There is a serious question to be answered. How could a development board spent five years and all of this money – not just on the design but also on administration and business services, the cost of which was €24 million – and yet come up with such a poor design that was totally rejected by An Bord Pleanála? The business of this committee is to find out why taxpayers’ money was spent so badly, and I do not see an answer to that in the financial statement in the survey conducted by the new board.