Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The 1,500-bed accelerated plan is still working its way through Government. This is an additional project that is not included in the Estimates before us. It requires a lot of extra money. I fully agree with the Deputy’s statement that it takes too long to build things in this country when we have to adhere to the public spending code. The public spending code has, I think, 17 stages to it. We have tried to do a few things in our approach. We are looking at where it is possible to get a derogation on planning. I have taken the Attorney General’s advice on that. We are looking at areas where an environmental impact assessment, EIA, is not required. Sometimes they are needed and sometimes they are not. As the Deputy will be aware, we have issued an expression of interest internationally, specifically around modular build. We are also looking at using modular or rapid-build technology. The quality is just as good but it is much quicker, with wet trades on site, for example. We will do batch jobs, have derogations on planning, where possible, including in areas where an EIA is not needed, use rapid build and have a limited number of tenders. My thinking is that there will be batch jobs of several hundred beds each, rather than having to go out and tender for every 50, 70 or 90 beds.