Clerk to the Committee:

The upshot of this case is that the State, having made a commitment to build a facility, ended up spending €4 million on a building that was subsequently demolished. Much of this relates to project management and one State authority being challenged before An Bord Pleanála by another State authority. Two public authorities, Dublin City Council and the Department, used the wrong tender form, which set the project back by approximately two years. Despite the Dáil approving the Estimates for the Department in 2007 and 2008 and providing adequate money for the project, the funding was not available in 2012 and the building was knocked down.

The key point arising from this case is that many of the Departments that become involved in building projects do not have expertise in this area. The Department of Education and Skills is an exception as it has expertise in the area of school building projects. For this reason, the Department of Justice and Equality should transfer responsibility for building projects to the Office of Public Works, which is the expert in handling these matters. It is crazy to have public bodies engaging in a dispute before the courts or An Bord Pleanála.