Results 321-340 of 1,025,231 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Violet-Anne Wynne OR speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh)

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I understand that. I have an awareness of particular sites where there was difficulty doing this. I have an issue around the entire process whereby various organs of the State were asked for sites and the OPW had to pass up 78% of those offered.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: That gives me a very clear indication of what kinds of sites were offered to the OPW. I am not really going to go any further than that because I will just get cross and I do not think I will learn anything from doing that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I wish to return to the question of the anticipated cost per unit.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: What is the anticipated cost per unit?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: It will be €350,000.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I will ask a general question before we get into the specifics. I understand there are challenges around undertaking this endeavour. Mr. Conlon is saying that the average cost per unit is going to come out at approximately €350,000. Do we have a market valuation per unit? I ask this question because these units are supposedly here for the long haul and built to last 60 years. If...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Well, they are going to be here for 60 years.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: We know the temporary protection directive was extended for one year.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: These units, therefore, will be emergency accommodation for Ukrainians until April 2026. We do not know exactly when, but this accommodation will then have a 60-year lifespan after that time. At some point, therefore, these houses are going to feature, in one way or another, in the market.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Is Mr. O'Connor telling me there is no market valuation of these units?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: If we are trying to evaluate the value for money to the taxpayer, which is the job of this committee, I need to be able to stack up the cost of this accommodation to the State versus its worth to the State.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I know, but I want to have a very simple understanding in this regard. I am aware of individual sites. I know many of the sites offered to the OPW were, you know, pig-in-a-poke stuff. The organisations concerned were wondering what they could offer to the OPW. They did not really want these houses to be constructed on certain sites, so the decision was taken to offer the OPW something on...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: How can I adjudicate on the question of the value for money of what was built unless Mr. O'Connor can tell me, roughly, what it cost to build these units and what value, approximately, they would realise if there was an attempt to trade them? I acknowledge all the provisos concerning the free market not necessarily being the greatest judge of value and blah blah blah. How am I supposed to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: That is great. Mr. O'Connor is the specialist. Do the equation and give me an answer.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Great. I subsidised the private sector. That is fantastic. I am running out of time but I had questions around the fact that these units were developed in conjunction with the Construction Industry Federation. When these are rapid-build units and modern methods of construction are in use all over the world, why could we not find an off-the-peg solution to suit the sites we were using? We...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I want to talk about flood relief programmes. We get a narrative involving planning and judicial reviews. How many programmes are held up in judicial reviews? Deputy O'Connor is not here now but the big flood that we had recently affected west Waterford just as much as it did Midleton. People spoke about planning in the aftermath but as I understand it, that flood relief scheme was not...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I just wanted that information for background because I want to talk about nature-based solutions and soft engineering. We are very late to the table on this. The briefing documentation supplied to us the OPW says that the development of flood relief schemes under the OPW's capital programme now involves a specific requirement to assess the potential for nature-based solutions as part of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: How many flood relief schemes have within their planning a significant component of soft engineering or nature-based solutions?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: How does the OPW do a cost-benefit analysis of nature-based or soft engineering solutions versus hard engineering solutions? This is a complicated question in several parts. How does the OPW do the cost-benefit analysis? How does it do the natural capital accounting, whereby the cost-benefit analysis takes account not just of flood prevention but also biodiversity benefits, carbon...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Is there any natural capital accounting element at all, whereby the OPW also includes the attendant benefits of biodiversity pay-off, carbon sequestration, water attenuation within the landscape and so on?