Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a big question, and one that has occupied us all. There is a lot of work going on. The development board, I believe, very successfully resisted a lot of claims from the contractor. I do not have the numbers with me but, as I understand it, the amounts awarded by the appeals mechanism or mediation mechanism as part of the contract are very small relative to the awards being made.

In fairness to both sides, things were further complicated by Covid. The site was shut down and it was then slow to get back up. I was not satisfied with the speed with which it started up again, but it did start back up. Unfortunately, because of Covid there will be delays as there are to all major construction projects. There is a mediation process, although "mediation" might not be the right legal word. There is an independent mechanism in place which the hospital development board and the contractor use for these claims. They can always escalate a matter to the courts if they need to. We should certainly not rule out the idea Deputy Lahart has tabled, should it be needed.