Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Mr. Conlon says the assessment by the OPW should have placed greater emphasis on the value for money aspects of the project. Was there any emphasis or concern about value for money? When this assessment was carried out, the "simple assessment" as Mr. Conlon describes it, was value for money on the radar at all? Was there a box that had to be ticked?

I will give Mr. Conlon an example. I asked the OPW, through the Minister, to address an issue of flooding in the Clady River. It failed. Why? It was because of the cost-benefit analysis. What happened after was five houses were flooded and the money we were looking was less than the cost of the bike shed. We could not protect houses in my constituency because of the cost-benefit analysis in the Department. I want to know if there was any value for money appraisal. Mr. Conlon says there should be a greater emphasis on that aspect. Was there any emphasis on it?