Mr. John McCarthy:

The figure of €500 million to which the city manager referred was the overall cost of the project, not a figure for the expected level of local authority investment. The vast bulk of the investment in this project is to come from the private finance side. From our point of view, a critical part of the process that is to be satisfied is that there is value for money. Under the procedures, the National Development Finance Agency is the body that has been assigned responsibility by the Government for assessing projects of this kind. When he appeared before the joint committee, the city manager indicated that before any decision is made, the project will be resubmitted. It was previously certified as representing value for money, but in light of the revised contractual arrangements it will go back to the National Development Finance Agency to be certified again as to whether it represents value for money.