Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I accept the Minister of State's explanation but I find it difficult to accept it for the other two occasions. At some stage or other the Minister should be willing to address this issue in the House. As an aside I note that along with the national children's hospital this shows that there is a serious problem with tendering, or so it appears to me. It seems to be practically impossible to hold people to the tender application that is initially made.

I asked a specific question. Was it the case that the application which came in from Cork City Council in September 2017 was a request for a grant? That is not my understanding of it. What the Minister of State read out refers to public funding for the project being increased. As part of that, it refers to a repayable loan of €9 million. At what stage was it first broached with Cork City Council that this would be a loan that the city would have to repay as opposed to a grant? As I said, the city is currently in the process of a very complex and potentially expensive transition and expansion. It was discussed at the last meeting of the city council. The head of planning said that the city council is now looking at the implications of the Department's letter and its impact on the viability of the project. I repeat that I want this to succeed on this site and I think it will be of great value to Cork. When the announcement was made I welcomed the fact that the Attorney General had cleared additional funding. However, there is a lack of clarity here and it is once again undermining confidence in this process.

Additionally, I note that freedom of information requests made by journalists are not being acceded to. I ask for those freedom of information requests to be granted. If there are commercially sensitive details, let them be redacted. There should be transparency here.

I have a number of questions. Was it an application for a loan? If not, at what stage was the idea of a loan broached with the city council? Did it agree to it? The Lord Mayor, Councillor Mick Finn, has asked for round-table talks with all stakeholders. Will the Department participate in those talks?

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