Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not wish to cut across Mr. McCarthy but he talks about accountability and how the CEOs will consult with councillors. The responsibility rests with the managers, however, not with the councillors. That is because this is not a function for councillors but for the management. Mr. McCarthy is talking about a figure of just under €100 million but which will, by the end of July, be about €108 million. At that meeting in January, the city manager of Dublin City Council spoke about a cost of €500 million if this project was to go ahead. That is one third of the annual budget of those four local authorities. There is no business case for this incinerator, as was pointed out in the Capita report. At what point therefore does the Department step in? Will it be when the figure is two thirds of the four local authorities' annual funding? When will the Department step in and query what exactly is going on?