Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 7 March 2019

Public Accounts Committee

Oversight and Implementation of Capital Projects and the Role of Public Officials on State Boards: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Office of Government Procurement

9:00 am

Mr. David O'Brien:

It is a capital investment so it belongs there. There are Irish Water projects, for example. Irish Water is a commercial semi-State company and such projects do not come to the GCCC either. It is only direct, Exchequer-funded, construction projects that come through the GCCC. Coming back to the point, the difficulty we have is an ever changing market. Deputy Catherine Murphy is talking about certainty and cost and so on. As I pointed out, in 2013 we were not quite sure where construction was going. Within two to three years, we now have skills shortages in that sector as a result of investment. That is the issue. A construction project can only be delivered with cost certainty at a point in time.

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