Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In the first instance, we should welcome the fact that there has been some movement and that some of the money that was lost to the taxpayer has been recouped. The Comptroller and Auditor General should be commended on highlighting this issue, as well as the members of the previous committee and this current committee, who have been dogged in pursuing the issue. At the end of the day, there will still be €3 million lost because somebody miscalculated the floor space of the building. It was a simple mistake that was not corrected. My difficulty with all of this is that, as per usual, it does not appear anybody is going to be held to account. In our correspondence with the OPW in advance of it coming before us, we should ask what mechanisms it is employing to identify the source of this debacle and what internal actions are being taken to ensure something like this can never happen again. Whatever way you look at it, this has been an absolute mess that does no service whatsoever to the OPW or its reputation.