Mr. Hubert Loftus:

The Minister has covered many of the points raised. Deputy Boyd Barrett mentioned more links to the Department. I have been head of the planning and building division for one year and to my knowledge, nothing of this scale has come to the Department before. In terms of the fire safety assessment reports the Deputy referenced, some were published in 2017 following a freedom of information Information Commissioner ruling. Since then, and as part of the learning experience, the Department put protocols in place whereby as fire safety reports are carried out, they are automatically provided to the school, the patron and the fire officer. We then put in place a programme management team to follow through on the works and the issues arising from them in order that any remedial issues could be addressed. The Minister referenced the Whitehall case, which was a different type of construction. It was a temporary building and consequently, the issues there are not directly related.

Deputy Boyd Barrett also referenced the former Minister for Education and Skills, Mr. Ruairí Quinn, and issues around audits. It predated my time in the Department but that Minister put in place a programme of audits and checks that were followed through on. I can arrange for that to be followed through for the information of the committee.

Deputy Thomas Byrne made a point in respect of Engineers Ireland. We were not aware of the issue he raised. As for certification and clarity, it is very clear in a design and build project that the contractor has a legal responsibility for sign-off on certification. For clarity on this issue, and as a sample, the Department published on its website the certificates that were signed by WBS. In my view, it is crystal clear.