Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if he has satisfied himself that the procedures for the award of the project management contract for the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road were transparent and fair; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that companies linked to the president of the IRFU and to the person appointed to oversee the entire project have been awarded crucial elements of the contract; his views on whether there is a conflict of interest between those who decided on the awarding of the contract and those who were selected for it; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20276/05]

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, the Government has agreed to provide €191 million towards the cost of redeveloping the stadium at Lansdowne Road, a project that has been estimated to cost €292 million in total. A special purpose vehicle, the Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company, LRSDC, has been established by the IRFU and the FAI to carry out the development project. The project is overseen by a steering group, chaired by my Department and comprising officials of my own Department, the Department of Finance and the Office of Public Works as well as representatives of the IRFU and the FAI. Work on the project is already under way and to this purpose, earlier this year, LRSDC appointed a number of consortia to discharge various elements of the work. Of these, the design contract and the project management contracts are the two largest and key contracts at this stage of the stadium development.

The issues raised by the Deputy were raised at the time of the award of the project management contract. Following the presentation of a comprehensive report by the Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company on the procedures carried out regarding the award of this contract the steering group satisfied itself that the award of the contract was carried out in a fully transparent manner supported by appropriate legal advice and in accordance with good practice prescribed for the award of contracts for which Exchequer finance has been provided. On that basis I am satisfied that the contracts have been awarded following an appropriate process in which full cognisance was taken of the circumstances outlined by the Deputy.