Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome here. There are a couple of things I would like to be enlightened on, if possible. I understand the Cabinet meeting is probably finished and I would like to know, in the context of the revision of the Estimates which is being undertaken, what, if anything, the OPW has been asked to bear. In terms of any potential reductions, where has the OPW agreed to take reprofiling reductions in terms of estimated spend?

Given the OPW's recognised and very valued expertise in building and development projects, perhaps the Minister of State can refresh our memories as to whether the OPW has had any role in the largest capital project in the history of the State, namely, the children's hospital. Has it provided any oversight, information or advice to the various committees involved in the children's hospital project? We all appreciate and know from our own constituencies the very good work that is done by the OPW. I am glad to see the Minister of State's reference to the Phoenix Park. The second issue on which I would expect the OPW to have some expertise as a consequence of its work is building inflation. What is the OPW's estimation of building inflation over the past two years given that a lot of its projects work on a contract basis and it is well used to dealing with contractors? On the children's hospital, we have heard some pretty staggering construction cost inflation figures. I would like to hear about the OPW's experience of building inflation.

Returning to our last discussion about the Phoenix Park, I am glad to see the park has won another award. What progress has been made on the issues we raised at that meeting, namely, the need to identify the costs in greater detail?

It is a project the OPW has been waiting to undertake for a number of years. What is the state of play on it? Is it likely to fall victim to the cutbacks being discussed by the Government or can the Minister of State tell us where the cutbacks are likely to be made?

Another project OPW has announced is the bridge over the River Liffey to link the Phoenix Park with the War Memorial Gardens via the lower road. The project is being put out for competition. Will the Minister of State inform us what stage it is at and whether such a project is likely to suffer in the revised scheduling and because of the cutbacks in allocations?

Communities throughout the country are also extremely anxious about flood relief programmes. There are large-scale flood relief programmes in different parts of the country. Are any of them being rescheduled because of the cutbacks the Government has indicated resulting from the runaway cost of the children's hospital project?