Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Mr. Barry. Regarding eliminating or minimising further error, does he foresee any changes in personnel within the management structure? One of the things that struck me in the past two months is that in spite of the cost overruns, not a single person was fired and not a single person has had any HR sanction taken against him or her. We were also told that not a single contract was changed and not a single company asked to step down, in spite of these massive and unprecedented cost overruns. I am not asking for specifics, but as Mr. Barry comes into his role, does he foresee the need for any personnel changes? Does he further foresee that some of the companies involved may need to be asked to step back?

In the same vein, I would like to draw on his considerable experience on another issue. One of the other issues that jumped out at me from the increased costs was that one of the line items concerned the design team fees. We have heard that there were significant cost underestimations. I have a different view as to what happened but that is the Government's position. We heard from people at this committee that quantities were greatly underestimated and so forth. My understanding is that some of the people who work in that area are within this design team. Seven companies are involved in that design team, including quantity surveyors, architects, mechanical and electrical engineers, etc. In spite of this gross underestimation, and what appear to be major errors, not only were no members of the design team fired but it was agreed that the fees paid would jump from €44 million to €71 million. That is in one year. Not only was no one fired or penalised, therefore, their fees were almost doubled. Given all of that, does Mr. Barry have a view regarding the design team, any of the other contractors involved or personnel at management level, where changes may need to be made?