John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

I always said it was hoped we would have a national conference centre in place some time during the year 2007. With regard to the procedures being followed, to the best of my knowledge, all of the procedures we are obliged to follow have been followed to date. Every effort has been made to try to ensure there can be no criticism in that regard at the end of the process.

It is difficult for me to be definitive with Deputy Deenihan on precise dates. However, it is not possible for me to change the procurement process when it is a public private partnership for the reason that I am subject to the Department of Finance interim guidelines for the provision of infrastructure and capital investments through public private partnerships. Anybody familiar with the Department of Finance — no offence intended — will be well aware that it does not exactly cheer when people try to unilaterally amend its guidelines.

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