St. Teresa’s Gardens, the housing project referred to by the Deputy, is a key regeneration project, the first phase of which will see the delivery of 54 new social housing homes. As the project is currently the subject of a tendering process, it would not be appropriate for me to comment at this time on the likely project costs. I understand this matter was discussed by the committee yesterday in respect of the same council official.
On the issue of public procurement, I can assure the Deputy that public procurement does not drive up the cost of construction projects. It is set in place to try to drive the cost down, to monitor costs and make sure we get the best value for taxpayers' money. Social housing projects funded by my Department, like all publicly-funded construction projects, must comply with the Government’s capital works management framework, the objectives of which are to ensure greater cost certainty, better value for money and financial accountability. I consider the competitive tendering process required by public procurement as being a cornerstone in achieving value for money and transparency in the use of public funds.
It should be noted that the regeneration projects, such as that referred to by the Deputy, move through a number of phases including initial master planning stage, demolition works, enabling works, refurbishment and consultation and construction more generally. These projects seek to address the causes of disadvantage in these communities through a holistic programme of physical, social and economic regeneration. By their very nature, regeneration projects are complex and can incur unavoidable additional costs, including demolition, site remediation, temporary rehousing and amenities such as playgrounds, pitches and so on. The public procurement process helps ensure that value for money is achieved in rebuilding and regenerating a community and there is no reason that cannot be achieved in a speedy and efficient manner.
I do not buy into this concept that the rules are slowing down projects. We have made a lot of changes to the processes and I have engaged a lot with local authority officials in the housing sector as has the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. We are quite confident that our new system of delivery and the new timelines that are in place are not delaying projects. As quickly as local authorities can do the work, we can get it signed through in our Department as well.
As to the cost of this project, we were on site last week - we launched our report there - and this project is finally moving on. There will be a tender decision made in the next couple of days - in the next week or two - and it will hopefully move on from there. I cannot go into details on the price but certainly the price being talked about is way off what we have estimated it will be. The project involves a lot more than just building these houses.
