Mr. John Conlon:

There are two reasons I want to have some external advice to help me on this. We deliver a huge number of projects in that range. As a new Accounting Officer, I want the best advice I can get on an independent basis to allow me to put in a more robust structure for the delivery of projects in that category. I accept that projects that might be slightly under that threshold should require further review, probably by a more senior person. I indicated earlier that the OPW does a huge amount of work in the category below €200,000 in terms of very small works and medium works. Under the medium-term framework, over the past two and a half years we have delivered more than 11,000 projects. I do not want to slow down that system because we must be able to react efficiently and effectively to the huge amount of work we are asked to do on an ongoing basis. I want more robust structures in place for the category of works that are similar to this, between €200,000 and €500,000. I would like some assurance and advice on that.