Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 7 November 2019

Public Accounts Committee

Business of Committee

9:00 am

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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It reads: “As reported to the Public Accounts Committee in January 2019 and in May 2019, there are a number of exceptions that have always been”. That is the bit that gets me.

I do not remember it. It states: "...always been outside of the approved budget, and for which there cannot be price certainty at this point, or for the duration of the project." There can be any price rather than price certainty.

There are two issues. There has been an escalation in costs at a significant scale in the space of a few months. Within five months, there has been movement from €314 million to €397 million. In any other case, there would be a national outcry over such a scale of increase but the public is conditioned to this now.

We now have a contract for construction et aland we also have, in a very convenient way for the Government, a separate process that cannot be costed on an ongoing basis and will only be revealed in years to come when the project is finished. That cannot happen.