Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies. Behind every one of these flood relief schemes are tales of people who are of going through the anxiety, financial damage and mental trauma of having to deal with risk to their family home and their finances. I can confirm that the money has been secured. I stand beside the Minister of Public Expenditure and Reform to say that very clearly.

Unfortunately, the tender for the project went ahead during perhaps the worst period for a public procurement tender to happen during a period of rampant inflation. By the time the bids came in, none of the people who bid wanted to stand over their bids because the price of material had gone up so dramatically. Therefore, a new anti-inflationary framework has been put in place to deal with that in order that our public tenders can go ahead. It legally had to be put out to re-tender. It is a legal requirement that all public works contracts over a certain amount of money go out for tender. That is now being assessed by Cork City Council. The information I have is that it is scheduled to commence construction during quarter 2 of 2023. I cannot give a clearer or more definitive indication. The information I have is that the project will commence in quarter 2 of 2023.

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