Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I would not agree with the Deputy. The project will get off the blocks. It is a PPP project and there is commitment to it. The Deputy may be aware that there have been enormous technical problems with regard to the site and issues have arisen with regard to the type, shape, style and engineering of the building on the site that has been offered. There has been constant reconfiguration and this is at last coming to a conclusion. To date, €183,748 has been spent by my Department on various professional services, including legal, architectural and engineering services, which is not a huge expenditure given the period of time involved and the scale of the project. This and the National Concert Hall are the two major PPP projects from my Department and I have every confidence they will go ahead.

I hope the technical issues will be resolved quickly. They have taken an inordinate amount of time, but this is not unusual in the context of a site such as this and what must be done in terms of public procurement. The people appointed have had a major input, which has slowed down the project. For example, the acoustics experts had a considerable input on the acoustic side, which is why they were brought in, and this gave rise to another round of configuration changes - it does not work as well there, it works better that way, it should be centred on the site but not in that way. These are the general issues that have arisen. I am not a professional acoustic engineer or any type of engineer. I urge those involved to bring the process to a conclusion. However, the key people that will make the final decision want to get it right and they want to have the best possible outcome for the Abbey Theatre.

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