Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This project, as I said, is being developed by Mayo County Council. I met it in relation to the plans early last year when I was briefed on the project. My Department then got a formal request for funding towards the Mary Robinson centre from Mayo County Council in July of 2015, and the request was for €2.175 million. Funding of €2 million for the Mary Robinson centre was subsequently included in the 2016 Revised Estimates Volume, which was published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on 17 December 2015. We have approved the grant to the local authority but no funding has been drawn down. The grant offer is subject to the standard conditions that apply to all capital grants and these must be met before any funding is drawn down. All funding needed to bring the facility into public use must be in place and documented before a contract with a developer is signed and before any grant payments are made by my Department.

To clarify regarding the responsibilities of the spending, the onus to ensure compliance with The Public Spending Code, published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, falls in the first instance to the project promoter, which in this case is Mayo County Council. Under the provisions of The Public Spending Code, a cost-benefit analysis is required for projects with a total cost of €20 million or more. My Department will be satisfying itself that the project is in compliance with the relevant requirements of the code before any funding is released to Mayo County Council.

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