Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 9 May 2019

Public Accounts Committee

2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána
Chapter 7 - Management of Overtime Expenditure in An Garda Síochána

9:00 am

Mr. Joseph Nugent:

We are. In fairness to the OPW, it has done a good job for us. I do not want to be overly critical of it but, ultimately, we are the paymaster for the works done, over which we have limited control.

There is a broader system-based weakness in that area

Regarding the specific stations, if we take Kevin Street as an example, when one starts digging into the ground and one starts finding all sorts of matter that one has not prepared for as a contractor, in fairness, problems emerge around that and claims are made associated with that build. That primarily relates to those issues. As the Deputy said, there are some outstanding claims, unsettled at this point, and the subject of discussions between the OPW and the contractor regarding a couple of the sites around the country.