Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Some €35 million was written off. I do not expect Mr. Watt to address that issue but I expect him to be familiar with it and to know what was learned from it. The board provided assurances. Does Mr. Watt agree that its members were picked for their expertise? Okay. I regret that Mr. Quinn is not appearing before the committee today but that was the decision of the Department. I went through the minutes of the board meetings on this matter. The minutes of a meeting on 4 July 2018 note the lack of co-operation of all parties and that the guaranteed maximum price had not been agreed. That had been an ongoing concern since earlier that year. Nobody knew what was the guaranteed maximum price. As the months go on, the minutes keep recording that concern. At some stage, the board engaged an expert. This took place under a two-stage process that the Department allowed and to which I will return if I have time. The board was alerted to the high level of risk in July 2018. A guaranteed maximum price had still not been agreed by August. I ask Mr. Watt to listen to the following when he is ready. Plan B was discussed by the board which noted that the performance of BAM during phase 1 up to that stage fell far short of what would be expected of a tier 1 contractor. That is noted in the minutes. I highlighted these issues when going through the minutes and I wondered what were the board and the contractor doing. I am not commenting on that; I am asking a question. In October the board remarked that BAM had not delivered, and questioned whether various design and contractor teams were fit for purpose to deliver a project of this scale and complexity. Shall I repeat that or has Mr. Watt taken it on board? In October the board noted that BAM had not delivered and questioned whether the design and contractor teams were fit for purpose.