Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I have been involved in a range of these projects and they are not as simple as the Deputy suggests. In the conclusion of my remarks I said the market is well aware this project is on the way and the international competition for the design of the theatre should get under way formally before the summer is over. As the Deputy knows, we have just successfully launched the total rebuild of the National Concert Hall, which is a major project, more or less equivalent in scale to this one. That is also a PPP and it has finally got off the mark. There are issues between those trying to make the property work on the site and do the technical specification. Some changes were made on that which reconfigured the building. These things happen when one is trying to get to the stage where one can go formally to the market. One has to have the technical specification correct. The design will be done through an international design competition, so the OPW and Department are not designing the building.

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