John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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177. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will indicate the nature of the legal challenges that have to be overcome in relation to flood prevention works in Bandon, County Cork, how these challenges may delay the works, if their resolution will incur an expense by the taxpayer, the details of this expense, when the works will proceed to tender; when the works will proceed, and the amount of money budgeted for the works. [44931/15]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In November 2013, the first stage of the procurement process for a civil works contractor to undertake the Bandon Flood Relief Scheme was commenced. This involved submission of a suitability assessment questionnaire by interested contractors. Following completion of this first stage assessment the process was challenged by an unsuccessful applicant on the grounds that they considered their application was not properly assessed by reference to the stated criteria. Following legal correspondence it was decided to terminate the process in April 2014. The process was started again in July 2014 but was again challenged at the first stage suitability assessment in December 2014 by unsuccessful candidates similarly on the grounds that they considered their applications were not properly assessed. Formal legal proceedings were initiated by one of the unsuccessful candidates and following lengthy legal correspondence matters were resolved and a shortlist was confirmed in March 2015. Relatively minor legal and consultants' fees were incurred as a result of these legal challenges. There were no payments to prospective contractors involved.

The contract is currently at tender stage with tenders due back in early January 2016.

The Scheme will be submitted very shortly to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for Confirmation under the Arterial Drainage Acts. The Minister is required under environmental legislation to carry out an independent assessment of the Scheme's Environmental Impact Statement and this will run in tandem with the tender assessment process. Works are expected to commence in mid 2016.

The Bandon Flood Relief Scheme is a major urban scheme and has a budget commensurate to the scale and complexity of the works. Given that the project is at tender stage it would not be appropriate to indicate the project budget figure as this could compromise the tender process. Provision for expenditure on the scheme is included in the OPW's multi-annual budget profiles for the period 2015–2019.