Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is clearly an issue in this area. In layman’s terms, this is a fixed-price contract for 24 months and there is no inflation link within the first two years of a contract. Typically, how long would a contractor, being the preferred tenderer, put in that tender for the contract prior to starting it? Could one be looking at three, four or five years of, in essence, a fixed-price contract? It may have got the contract or have even been the preferred tenderer and have tendered for the contract three to four years before, or, typically, we will say, two years before starting the work.