Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----I have been entertained by the meeting so far and previous meetings.

As a prelude, I will mention something that I have said previously. I am glad to see the Committee of Public Accounts monitoring the programme, but it has no function whatsoever in determining what money should be spent on any project until after it has been spent. Its job is to review value for money in almost every area. To do otherwise would be to interfere in Government policy, which no committee has the right to do. In particular, the Committee of Public Accounts is statutorily excluded from doing so. I say this as a reminder. I do not wish to go into some of the things that have happened at the Committee of Public Accounts down the years, nor would it be appropriate to do so, but I did not approve of them. Nor would anyone.

The purpose of the exercise is to build a modern hospital quickly in a way that gives good value for money, sticks to its contracts insofar as that is possible and, in the event of something inexplicable happening, having it explained. It may just appear to be inexplicable, but there is usually a reason for everything.

Someone approached me before the project even started about a potential reduction in the cost. This is a new topic, Chairman, given that everyone has been concentrating on increases. This committee is taken up with them, as are others. There was a suggestion that, if a road was closed or opened, contractors could use an internal road more effectively. I brought that to the attention of those involved at the very beginning. I am sure that the witnesses are aware of it. I cannot recall the details off-hand, but it would have entailed the closing of a road for some time until a part of the project had been concluded, thereby eliminating the need to criss-cross public traffic. I will leave that matter with the witnesses.

I am impressed with the work to date. It is great to see a major engineering project of this nature. It is long sought after and is very necessary for the provision of health services in the country. We hope that it works well and that there is not an ongoing inquiry.

Lengthy tribunals do not serve us well in terms of service provision and they also do not encourage tenders for State projects. This is a State project in respect of which there are strict rules which must be observed. It should be borne in mind that continually dragging down the project is not conducive to good value for money or the delivery of the project.

It was mentioned that some elements of the project are not progressing as fast as people would have liked. Have the witnesses been able to identify the areas that are causing the delay and worked out the extent to which they could contribute to a reduction or increase in the cost of the project?