Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would like to make a slightly more general point. I was the mayor of South Dublin County Council shortly before the Celtic tiger collapsed. When certain buildings were being constructed at that time, I was absolutely horrified with the actual expenditure involved. It would be useful if, as a result of this discussion, we could see a comparison between the amounts of money that were spent on projects such as the one under discussion and the equivalent amounts that would be spent nowadays. That would allow us to see whether we are getting better value for money now than we were then. My impression is that when public buildings were being constructed during that period, the costs went through the roof. It would be interesting to see the situation now, to learn about the extent to which have we improved the situation and to compare what the equivalent costs would be if these projects were being done by the private sector. I suspect that the charges seem to go up across the public sector. Maybe I am wrong in that regard. That is my suspicion.