Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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347. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to detail the size in square metres of the new Mayo Coast Guard station being built in Westport; the details of the bill of quantities for the project; the way he can stand over a cost of €6.8 million for the Westport Coast Guard station given a similar building was built by the RNLI on the island of Árainn Mhór in Donegal for €1.4 million. [3187/25]

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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The Department of Transport (DoT) is responsible for the investment in the Irish Coast Guard (IRCG) building programme aimed at ensuring Coast Guard Units along the coast are fit for purpose.

The programme is fully funded by the DoT as Approving Authority, with project delivery managed by the Office of Public Works (OPW), as the Contracting Authority from planning and design to construction and on-going maintenance.

The investment priorities are decided, and the entire IRCG capital programme overseen, by a Programme Oversight Group consisting of representatives of the DoT, the IRCG and the OPW at Principal Officer level. The IRCG is responsible as Sponsoring Authority to develop business cases for individual stations but the DoT, IRCG and the OPW collectively agree a priority list that includes 23 locations around the country, with Westport being one of the highest priority locations.

Tendering for the works at Westport was undertaken by the OPW in August 2023 following approval from the DoT as Approving Authority. The contract was awarded, again following approval by the DoT, to MVS Construction Ltd on 29 January 2024. The contract sum was €4,619,817.66 ex. VAT. The total project cost including VAT, contingency of 7.5%, Per Cent for Art, surveys and reports and fees (including Planning, Building Control and Fire Safety fees), is expected to be €6.879m. As per the Infrastructure Guidelines, the business case for this project was prepared by the IRCG and accepted and approved by the DoT as Approving Authority.

The Árainn Mhór RNLI Station was delivered by the charity body the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The basis of the publicised construction figure of €1.4m is unclear and as such it would not be possible to provide a quantitative comparison between the projects.

However the OPW makes the following observation:

• The size of the buildings is substantially different, at 657 square metres the Westport IRCG station is approximately 40% larger than the RNLI station on Árainn Mhór.
• In Westport the OPW is delivering a building that has been specified and approved by the Department of Transport and IRCG as being suitable to meet their considerable operational needs in the area.
• The design of the two buildings appears to be substantially different. For example, for health and safety reasons, the IRCG requires space to allow vehicles with boat trailers to enter one side of the boatshed and exit the other, thus avoiding the safety risks involved with reversing large trailers. The large turning circles needed for these trailers has determined the width of the current site and access driveway. In addition, direct exit to a public road is needed to reduce the risk of the route becoming blocked by neighbouring activity.
• While the Árainn Mhór RNLI station is located on an island necessitating the transportation of construction materials from the mainland, the location of the IRCG station in Westport is not without its own challenges being within the Clew Bay Complex Special Area of Conservation (SAC) (001482). The OPW was required to commission an ecologist to prepare a Natura Impact Statement (NIS) for the assessment for the development of the coastguard station in accordance with Article 6(3) of the Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora). Mitigation measures identified in the report to protect the SAC, have been included in the design and have contributed to the overall cost.
• It must also be noted the new IRCG station is being built on reclaimed land, necessitating significant additional costs not typically incurred at other sites. The site was chosen to accommodate the IRCG Station in Westport and was identified in Mayo County Council’s 2012 Master Development Plan. The site was owned by Mayo County Council and was transferred at a nominal fee to the OPW for the new station.
• The IRCG consider the position of the site to be suited to their operational needs and their requirement for high visibility. A station in this particular location benefits from good views of the quay to the north, the harbour to the south and broad views towards the mountains to the west, including Croagh Patrick where approaching weather systems can be observed.
• The Westport IRCG station has a design-life in excess of fifty years with minimal maintenance requirements and associated lifetime maintenance costs in a hostile marine environment.