Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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1070. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the fit-out costs for the newly designed containment laboratory at the Backweston facility in County Kildare are included in the declared costs; if the fit-out costs are not included the projected costs for this fit out, which is due to be handed over in May 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13706/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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My Department in collaboration with the Office of Public Works is currently developing a high containment laboratory at Backweston to enhance our National capability in the laboratory diagnosis of exotic viral diseases of farmed animals.

Aside from the costs of the building works, there will be an outlay on laboratory furnishings and equipment. The estimated total cost is €235,000, excluding VAT, and the items purchased will be subject to the usual public procurement processes.

Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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1071. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason the original contractors were not held liable for the faults in the original works in 2005 when the high containment laboratory was built; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13707/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The inclusion of a high containment (bio-security level 4) laboratory suite in the original design of the laboratory complex at Backweston was informed by the experience of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) in Ireland and the UK in 2001. During that outbreak we were entirely dependent on the Pirbright Laboratory in the UK for laboratory diagnosis of suspect cases of disease. In addition, following on from “9/11” and more stringent regulations on air transport of dangerous goods, it became increasingly difficult to send samples from suspect cases to the UK. It therefore became essential to develop national capability in exotic viral disease diagnosis and to ensure we had a facility within which exotic viruses could be safely handled. The original specification for this containment laboratory was based on the UK Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) standard of that time.

In 2007, while officials in my Department and the Office of Public Works (OPW) were attempting to resolve some outstanding issues on the original Laboratory project, there was yet another FMD outbreak in the UK in 2007. This outbreak prompted an international revision of bio-containment standards for laboratories handling the virus. In Ireland this incident emphasised both the need to develop our own testing capability and the critical importance attaching to bio-containment standards.

It was therefore decided to progress amelioration works on the high containment laboratory suite at Backweston so that it could be operated at the highest international standard attainable (the Australia-New Zealand standard) rather than the MAFF standard which was now considered dated.

OPW is currently in consultation with the Chief State Solicitor’s Office on pursuing the original contractor in respect of  an underlying issue in the fabric of the original building uncovered during the current work.

Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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1072. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there are other expenditures involved in the redesign, build and commissioning of the high containment laboratory at the Backweston facility in County Kildare that have not been provided. [13708/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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My Department, in collaboration with the Office of Public Works, is currently developing a high containment laboratory at Backweston to enhance our National capability in the laboratory diagnosis of exotic viral diseases of farmed animals.

It was decided to undertake amelioration works on a pre-existing laboratory space to achieve the highest attainable international standard of bio-containment – the Australia-New Zealand BSL4 standard. This decision followed an outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease in the UK in 2007 which was associated with the escape of virus from the Pirbright laboratory facility.

Consequently, to address potential risk and have confidence that a building project would deliver a facility to the required certified standard the following steps were taken:- A US engineering firm (which specialises in building and retrofitting containment laboratories) was retained on contract to oversee the design, build and commissioning of the laboratory; their proposed building solution was implemented and tested in one part of the laboratory and the heat treatment and drainage system was redesigned. The total cost of this preparatory work was €954,080.

The tendered cost of the main building works was €4.9 million excluding VAT. However additional costs of €1.07m (broken down below) have accrued due to variations to the building contract as a result of specification or working method changes, or due to unforeseen circumstances. During the construction works an underlying issue in the fabric of the original building was discovered – this did not affect the stability of the structure but had the potential to compromise containment and required an engineering solution and was associated with project delays which cost €219,572. This is a highly specialised project, the first of its kind undertaken in Ireland, such that it was inevitable that some changes would be made during the building phase to ensure the required level of containment and building efficiency - these variations to bolster air-tightness and security and enhance integration with building controls amounted to €853,790 (ex. VAT).