Mr. Tony Cunningham:

This is very important. Ms Keogh is right and I have said publicly on numerous occasions that the board and the association would not have decided at this point to move from Cuisle except for the situation that we find ourselves in. The design team is made up of electrical engineers, who were brought in first, fire safety consultants, the quantity surveyor and the architect. People asked where the €1.15 million in known costs comes from. There is a question of whether that calculation and those drawings exist. I presented all of that to the landlords. There is an issue regarding procurement and EU directives. It is not rocket science that we cannot throw out a lot of information. People say that the money will come and the works will be done, whether by the Irish Wheelchair Association or the landlord. We have invested substantially in bringing this to where it is. I met the landlord last week with my colleague and we shared all the work done to date. The landlord was very satisfied with the financial investment that the association had made to bring it to that point. We showed the landlord all the drawings and specifications for the electrical and fire safety works. The unknowns are the big concern, bearing in mind that it is a leased building. We had an asbestos report done and there is both known and unknown asbestos. Unknown means that the heating system is probably all insulated with asbestos, because the building is from the 1960s. I do not know how many members have been to Cuisle. Deputies Harty and Naughten know it. It is a huge, three storey building. There is a long corridor to another building. It is more than 3,000 sq. m in size. If the heating system fails, that would cost hundreds of thousands more.

When we looked at our investment and planning, we were looking at a long-term facility. Sales and marketing work was done. The website was developed. Our vision was that this would grow bigger and better over time. The energy rating in the building is pretty poor, but people focus on the beautiful views from the windows. There are huge windows in every bedroom and the heat flies out through them. It is a mass concrete building, and that has to be considered. If one is doing work on one's own home, one will look at the bigger picture to see if it is worth doing up the house or if it is better to knock it down and build a new one. While we talk about €1.15 million to address known issues, that is all we will do. To go back to the question of what we would do if we got the money in the morning, we would have to consider that it is an estimate of €1.15 million. I am told that it could be 5% more because that estimate was a year ago. It is only when it goes to tender that one knows what the actual price will be. It has to be considered whether it is worth doing it. The lease goes until 2026. The Divine Word is open to extending that further and we asked it about the matter previously. If that money is invested and the heating fails, what will happen? The process has been verified with the HSE and the Department of Health, and the IWA does not have money for this.