Deputy Mairéad Farrell, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said that the awarding of a contract to a BAM controlled company for the construction of buildings at third-level institutions such as ATU, showed the government just do not learn.
BAM is the main contractor for the National Children’s Hospital, which has run massively over cost and is set to be the most expensive children’s hospital in the history of the world.
Deputy Farrell said these new buildings will be at the Atlantic Technological University in Galway and Letterkenny, the South-East Technological University at Carlow and Waterford, and the Technological University of the Shannon.
“It is likely that Public Private Partnerships (PPPs ) will be used for the delivery of this. As soon to be Tanáiste Simon Harris had to concede to me, back when he was Minister for Further and Higher Education, the government failed in their effort to allow the Technological Universities to undertake their own borrowing, so they would have to rely on PPPs.
“PPPs have rightly been criticised for their high costs, and whilst the government through the National Development Plan, ruled out their further use, they kept the door open when it came to the University sector.
“Now we have a BAM company looking like its going to be undertaking these PPPs.
“Somehow, I have a feeling that before the next Dáil finishes up in 2029, we’ll have Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Ministers standing up to tell us that ‘lessons will have to be learned’ from some other major cost overrun,” she concluded.
