Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will make just a few final points. Many of the areas have been covered. As a member of the commission, I know that we are briefed continually on the building works in Leinster House. Not only that but visits of the House are available and there are photographic updates and so on. What surprised me were the risk of collapse and the risk of fire that were discovered.

That was discovered and it was inevitable that work had to be done. At least, it is not being done because of a catastrophic event. We must get value for money. The project comes within the remit of the Office of Public Works. It jumps out at me how impossible it is to estimate accurately the cost or produce a tender because the contingency is limited to a certain figure.