Will the Minister of State meet the families?

The Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, signed a contract for 500 beds at the D Hotel without consulting anyone, blindsiding everyone. However, it emerged from a letter he sent to me yesterday that the contract was signed without there being an appropriate fire certification in place, meaning that the maximum number of people who can stay in the hotel is 250. In the 51 days since he signed that contract, the taxpayer has been exposed to a loss of almost €1 million. This is disgraceful. Due diligence was not done on the contract. There was no consultation. There is no cooling-off period in the contract. The people of Drogheda are angry at being blindsided, as are all of the public representatives. This situation needs to be addressed urgently. I have written to the Comptroller and Auditor General asking that he examine this contract to determine whether there is a way for us to recover the €1 million that has been wasted by the Minister.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I will pass the details of his comments on to the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, for a direct response.