Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 176: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the extent of overrun on the various projects publicly advertised for tender by his Department in the past five years; if all such contracts have concluded on time and within cost; the exceptions and his plans regarding the way in which this matter will be dealt with; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16473/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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My Department directly commissions relatively few capital projects. Capital projects funded by my Department are, in the main, initiated by local authorities, and while my Department oversees and provides the policy framework for its capital programmes, the delivery of individual projects including any related procurement process is a matter for the implementing bodies concerned.

Information on the two major capital projects directly commissioned by my Department that come within the scope of the question is set out below. The original tender price of the contract for the introduction of an electronic voting and counting system was €31.49 million. This continuing project began as planned in January 2001 on the basis of a phased roll-out with review at each stage. To date total payments to the contractor amount to €38 million. The additional expenditure is due to the purchase of additional voting machines, programme reading units, ballot modules and the upgrading and retro-fitting of the voting machines used at the pilot polls.

The original tender price of the contract for footpath works at Diamond Hill, Connemara National Park, was €1.3 million. The project began as planned in October 2004 and is expected to be of 15 months duration. At this point it is not anticipated that there will be over-runs on either budget or time.