Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 February 2004
349 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the number of contracts or procurements funded directly or indirectly by his Department during the past seven years in respect of which cost overruns have occurred; the full extent of such overruns; the cause or causes of same; the action taken to prevent a reoccurrence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4547/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraSince its establishment in June 2002, my Department has operated a number of programmes through which financial assistance is provided to organisations towards the development of arts and sporting infrastructure throughout the country. Tourism development projects are supported directly or indirectly through the budgets of the tourism State agencies or through EU financing sources and I have no information regarding cost overruns in such cases.
Under the sports capital and local authority swimming pool programmes, grants are awarded to voluntary and community organisations and to local authorities to assist them in the provision of their sporting and leisure facilities. The funding provided by the Department complements the local funding provided by these organisations, which have responsibility for the overall funding and completion of the projects. More than 3,500 projects have been supported under these programmes over the past seven years. Taking into account the nature of the funding provided by the Department and the conditions attached to such funding, the Department has no information regarding contracts placed by these organisations where overruns may have occurred.
Grants are also awarded towards the cost of arts capital infrastructure. Projects are grant-aided to a maximum of 85% of total project cost. It is the responsibility of the project promoters to ensure the finance is in place to cover increases in overall costs and the Department accepts no liability for such increases. However, notwithstanding the absence of liability, two projects, in respect of which construction and refurbishment work proved more costly than anticipated, were granted additional funds during the period 1998-2001. The additional funds granted by the Department in these cases amounted to €1.27 million.
In the most recent arts capital grant scheme, ACCESS 2001-2004, financial consultants were contracted by the Department to carry out financial assessments of all applications submitted and it is expected this action will help to prevent cost overruns on grant-aided projects.
