Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Okay. I thank the Deputy.

On the response by the OPW regarding the flood relief schemes, I want to note that there is in the region of €24 million available for the Portarlington flood relief scheme and the Mountmellick scheme combined. There is a €6.8 million budget for the Mountmellick scheme and €17.3 million for the Portarlington scheme. The funding is welcome but obviously the longer it is left for these things - we have complained before about moving slowly - the price keeps going up. I acknowledge that when investigations were undertaken, the works were more extensive than envisaged at the very beginning. Hopefully, with the substantial budget that now exists, the two schemes can be moved on. There is a list of other schemes located around the country that elected representatives will welcome as well. The Clonaslee scheme has a budget of €390,000. We will flag the item regarding the house mentioned by the Deputy, with the OPW when it is in.

The next correspondence is No. R2806, which was received from Mr. John Conlon, Office of Public Works. It is further information to the committee providing a response to information requested at the meeting of 13 June. I propose that we note and publish this.

The OPW has advised that the other attachments are confidential and have requested they are not published. So following a meeting on 3 July 2003, with Mary Harney, who was the Tánaiste at the time, and her officials, the then Minister of State, Mr. Parlon, and Mr. Byers, then commissioner of the OPW, and representatives of the children's museum had subsequent discussions with the Department's Secretary General, Mr. Paul Haran, and his officials, it was agreed that the OPW would provide accommodation to house the children's museum's interactive centre in the facility with particular high-end science content aimed at raising public awareness of science and technology. The OPW has requested documents on the children's museum not to be published. I have spoken to the clerk to the committee about this matter and this committee can agree to publish them. Thus far, €2.72 million has been spent and the current project cost is estimated to be €70 million. Basically, the entity involved, which is a charity, would appear to have the taxpayer, OPW and the State over a barrel. That seems to be how this is shaping up. To note that and I am sure that this matter will come up when they come before the committee in the coming weeks. So we note and publish the item of correspondence.