§ MR. HORACE PLUNKETT (Dublin County, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Board of Control of Lunatic Asylums 84 in Ireland invited 12 architects to submit anonymously designs for the proposed Portrane Lunatic Asylum; that the letter of conditions inviting competition stated, amongst other things, that a committee of selection would select not more than three out of the 12 competitors, and place them in order of merit; that the committee of selection did select three, and stated that they were of equal merit; that the Board of Control thereupon obtained estimates upon the three designs, and when they were obtained adopted the design which would cost, according to the official surveyor's report, £30,000 more than one, and £48,000 more than the other, of the designs which had been adjudged by the committee of selection to be of equal merit with that adopted, thus imposing a grave additional burden upon the ratepayers; that the methods pursued in the conduct of the competition for designs and in their selection have been condemned by the Council of the Institute of Architects of Ireland, as violating certain fundamental conditions regulating the competition, on the faith of which generally the competitors submitted their designs for adjudication; that they hold that, in view of the facts, no adjudication has taken place within the meaning of the conditions; and whether representations will be addressed to the Board on the subject, with a view to their adopting steps for holding a fresh competition?
THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. JOHN MORLEY, Newcastle-upon-Tyne)The Board of Control did invite 12 architects to submit, anonymously, designs for the proposed Asylum at Portrane. In the "Instructions" for the competition it was stated that the Board of Control would appoint a committee of selection to select not more than three of the designs sent in, which they considered of merit, and to place them in the order af merit. The committee having examined the plans, &c., made a report, which has been communicated to the competitors, and the Board of Control then considered it necessary to get an approximate estimate prepared by an independent surveyor of each of the designs selected by the committee of selection. It was found that the two less costly of the designs would 85 have required very extensive remodelling, which would in one ease have increased the cost considerably. In the third and more costly design an amount of accommodation had been provided in excess of that in the other two, or more than was considered necessary, the reduction of which to what was necessary would reduce the cost by about £30,000 without varying the general design, which the Board considered in many respects of great merit and well suited to the site. With this reduction there will not be, as alleged, any additional burden thrown on the ratepayers by carrying out the particular design which the Board have selected. The Council of the Institute of Irish Architects did express an opinion as stated in the question. The selection having been made, and the architect instructed to prepare the working designs, there can be no further competition.