Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I am smiling to myself as the Minister has just read out the answer he gave me last March. However, I can go back to well before last March. The former Minister, Deputy John O'Donoghue, announced approval for a design competition for the new Abbey Theatre. The late Deputy Brennan, when he was Minister, announced that a design competition would be held, and in a press conference in October 2007 stated that he expected the whole job to be completed in 2008. Last June the Minister told me a design competition would be announced before the end of the summer and that the details were almost ready. Now, a full year later, the details still have not been announced. The members of the jury were announced in 2007 so I hope they have not been holding their breaths ever since. If preparing the competition, never mind the competition itself, has taken so many years, is there any prospect that the project will ever be completed?

My other question is about the cost to date. The Minister keeps telling me all the people who have been appointed. In March there were 21 meetings of the project team. In addition, technical, legal, insurance and financial advisers and theatre and acoustic consultants have been appointed and site investigation work is planned. How much has been spent, and will it ever come to anything? The last time I asked this question the Minister told me how much had been spent and I would be interested to know what has been spent to date and what commitments have been made for a project that may never get off the blocks.

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