Results 1,821-1,840 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: That is the true picture. These findings are in line with the Fitzpatrick report of August 2002 on the national roads programme and with the April 2004 special report of the Comptroller and Auditor General. The latter's report was based on detailed work by his office over a 13-month period in 2003 and 2004 and traced clearly the reasons for the increase in the estimated cost of the programme...

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: Before outlining the measures taken to strengthen cost estimation and control, I will comment on recent coverage of cost overruns on individual projects based on data contained in an appendix to the recent Committee of Public Accounts report. This appendix compared the cost of some projects completed in the years 2000, 200I, and 2002 to pre-construction estimates. I understand the original...

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: Adjusting the original estimates to reflect changes in the scale and scope of projects as ultimately constructed would, no doubt, further reduce the gap if not eliminate it entirely. The "Prime Time" programme also compared the outturn cost of a range of projects to initial estimates. In the absence of the detailed "Prime Time" analysis it is difficult to comment in detail but it would seem...

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: They are minor.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: This is by no means to be taken as suggesting or implying that deficiencies did not occur in cost estimation and control. Undoubtedly they did. In response, the NRA has strengthened its cost estimation, control and procurement procedures. This is designed to have more accurate cost estimates from the earliest stages of a project and to ensure greater certainty of outturn costs between tender...

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: These measures have led to an improvement in project management and consequential tightening on cost controls.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: We are building for at least 100 years, not for next week. The beneficial impacts of these measures are evident, for example, in the completion of most projects in recent years within budget and ahead of contract completion dates. The bypasses at Monasterevin, Ashford-Rathnew, Cashel and Ballincollig are well ahead of schedule, and on budget. The initiatives being taken by the Minister for...

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: Cost benefit analyses are carried out as projects progress through planning so that the impact of cost increases is taken into account and evaluated before binding contracts are made. It should also be noted that road construction contracts are subject to an open competitive tendering process that ensures that projects are competitively priced. In addition, a number of independent evaluations...

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: I would rather take the view of the independent assessors in all of this than listen to some of the guff coming from the other side of the House.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: I would like to put on record the good progress we are making in implementing the very ambitious upgrade programme provided for in the NDP and in transforming our national roads network for the benefit of everyone. Efforts to focus on cost increases that occurred in the period up to 2002 cannot detract from the irrefutable fact that route by route, the national road network is being...

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: Work is under way on another 24 with a combined length of 240 km including nearly another 180 km to motorway-dual carriageway standard. Another 19 with a combined length of more than 330 km including more than 280 km of motorway-dual carriageway standards are at tender stage. I will not mention all the projects that have been delivered. The estimated cost of the national roads development...

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: ——to make them economically sustainable, to create jobs and have a social capacity and quality of life that does not require that everybody look to the capital city. That is what this Fianna Fáil-led Government is delivering and I am proud to be a member of it.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: It results in keener tendering.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: Thank God, they are not. They can see the benefits throughout the country.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: That is the reality.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: That cost has not accrued in the past three years, and the Deputy knows that as well as I do.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: To suggest that amount accrued in the past few years is a nonsense. The Deputy should refer back to the coalition Government in the mid-1970s, which was the root of the problem.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: It has not been €500 million a year since 2001.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: I did not instigate it. The Opposition blocked the use of the machines, which worked perfectly well.

Written Answers — Driving Tests: Driving Tests (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 218 and 223 together. Driver tester numbers are part of the overall numbers in the Department and are arranged accordingly. They comprise both permanent and contract staff. Vacancies have arisen at different times over the past few years and up to as recently as 30 April 2005. It is proposed to advertise eight contract posts shortly. Each tester would be...