John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 33 together.

I am pleased to inform the House that, following approval by the Government, I announced yesterday that Spencer Dock International Conference Centre Consortium is being invited to become the provisional preferred tenderer for the provision of a national conference centre in Dublin. The decision was taken by the national conference centre steering group following a detailed assessment and evaluation of tenders received against award criteria set out in the Invitation to Negotiate document.

I understand that, in accordance with the competition process, the next step will be for the contracting authority, the Office of Public Works, to negotiate, settle and agree any required amendments to the project agreement with the provisional preferred tenderer and for the provisional preferred tenderer to resolve all outstanding due diligence issues. Assuming that these negotiations prove successful, the next step will be the appointment of the provisional preferred tenderer as preferred tenderer. During the preferred tenderer phase, the preferred tenderer will develop and provide the full range of project documents which will require review and approval by the contracting authority.

I am delighted that a further critical stage in the process of delivering a world-class national conference centre for Dublin has been completed and I look forward to the early completion of the next stages and to a final decision by the Government next year. I am particularly pleased that the commitment in the programme for Government to provide a national conference centre has taken this further major step towards final implementation.

On the basis of consultations undertaken by my Department and research reviewed, I am totally convinced of the need for a modern, dedicated national conference centre if Ireland is to realise its full potential in the very valuable international conference market.

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