Senior officials from the Department of the Environment are to be questioned at a Dáil committee about a drainage project in Limerick that could eventually cost the State over 50 million, more than five times its original cost.
Members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) are expected to focus on the project, which was originally budgeted at less than €10 million, when examining the Department's accounts at a hearing this morning.
The TDs are concerned about the management of the project by Limerick City Council, and the manner in which the main contractor was sacked from the project.
The project, at Clancy Strand in the city, involved the laying of two kilometres of drainage works.
Uniform Construction was removed from the project in 2001 by Limerick City Council in a dispute over costs and payments concerning the scheme.
Last month it emerged that, as part of a conciliation process, it was recommended that Uniform be awarded 25 million in compensation.
Most of the award related to loss of business for Uniform Construction.
Because of the dispute with Limerick Corporation, the firm had been barred from applying for public jobs pending its resolution.
The firm is one of the largest construction firms in the country and has been involved in major public projects, including the M1 Drogheda bypass.
Limerick City Council has appealed this to an independent arbiter.
Last year the council invited tenders for the completion of the project, which it is estimated will cost between 20 million and €25 million. Uniform Construction has already been paid an estimated 6 million for the project.
The potential final exposure of the State is now some 50 million.
According to PAC sources, TDs will raise the project when the secretary general of the Department of the Environment, Mr Niall Callan, appears before the committee this morning.
"The problem is that, nearly three years on, the matter hasn't been settled," according to a senior PAC source. "In that time the cost to the State has rocketed. The meter is still running, and the Department has not jumped in to call a halt."