Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has said many times that we should re-tender and that we would save a fortune that way. I do not see the evidence to back that up. We have a report that was only published yesterday. We will now focus on putting a plan together to deliver on the recommendations of that report. Many of the questions the Deputy has asked are perfectly valid, including how the design team got this so badly wrong, including some of the companies to which the Deputy referred. The recommendation in the report of the need to challenge robustly design teams and stakeholders in projects such as this on an ongoing basis through to project delivery is something we need to factor in to the future management of projects and indeed tendering. That is what is going to happen as we put a plan together in the next month to deliver on the recommendations of this report. Many of the issues the Deputy is frustrated by are real and genuine. Many are consistent with what PwC has pointed to in this report. The Government now has to respond to that and make sure we learn the lessons.

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