John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy is aware, the Office of Public Works received four submissions for the provision of a national conference centre following its advertisement for expressions of interest on 11 November 2003. The closing date for the receipt of submissions was 21 January 2004.

Those submissions have undergone detailed evaluation by an assessment panel representative of my Department, the Office of Public Works and its advisers, the Department of Finance, Fáilte Ireland and the National Development Finance Agency. I understand that submission of the assessment panel's report to the chairman of the national conference centre steering group is imminent. A separate assessment panel has evaluated the site proposals that candidates were also asked to put forward. I am informed that as soon as that report has been finalised, both reports will be considered by the steering group with a view to deciding on the candidates to go forward to the next stage of the process.

In the meantime, I am informed that the Office of Public Works and its advisers continue to work on the preparation of the detailed documentation required before that next stage can be initiated. In addition, consultants have been engaged by the OPW to undertake a public sector benchmarking exercise, as required by the Department of Finance's interim guidelines for the provision of infrastructure and capital investments through public private partnerships. I am told that this is likely to take some weeks to complete.

The timeframe prepared following the Government's decision to secure the provision of a national conference centre, and which envisaged that a final decision from Government could be secured in the autumn, was an indicative timeframe based on the information and assumptions available at the time. The procurement process that was subsequently undertaken is, as one would expect for a project of this scale, necessarily complex. In addition to the procedural requirements of the PPP process, the development of the detailed design and contract documentation is demanding, with details requiring careful scrutiny and consideration.

As a result, I am now advised that it is unlikely that the procurement process will be sufficiently advanced to facilitate a Government decision in the autumn. While I hope to be in that position before the end of the year, I am, given the complexity of the process, reluctant to be categorical. My priority is to have this project brought to a conclusion at the earliest possible date. However, it is important that the relevant procedures and guidelines pertaining to the process are closely observed and that nothing is done that might jeopardise its successful conclusion.

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