David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This matter goes beyond the OPW. It goes back to the discussions we had with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in respect of the national children's hospital, although we could not really focus on that. It was a wider discussion on all of the Department's projects. Deputy Catherine Murphy talks about process and fixed-price contracts. I agree with the Comptroller and Auditor General that there is an element of risk with any project and there is always the potential for a cost overrun. However, what we need to be looking at is whether we are good in the public sector at capturing the risks. The Comptroller and Auditor General does this to some extent when he does special reports and looks at the start of the project to its conclusion. There are matters we may not be able to foresee but what we have seen in some of these projects are things that could have been spotted. We then see bespoke arrangements being put in place like the children's hospital, where there was a different type of system in the context of how it was rolled out. At the design stage, we should be capturing all of the risks. That is what this committee needs to be examining, the process from start to finish and the different types of processes, tendering projects and so on. There seems to be a drift in recent times towards more bespoke arrangements that have not worked. I do not know where we go with it. As a matter of interest, was this project in compliance with the public procurement guidelines or is it one of those that was not?