Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will be into the beginning of 2019, at least, before a contract will be signed because it is going to take a few months to get to that stage. Given that this all started in 2013, six years will have elapsed between the date the original specifications were drawn up and launched and the signing of the contract. Technology has moved phenomenally in the meantime. If the officials were starting on 1 January 2019, would they be starting from where they did with this contract? One could not possibly think they would. Has the passage of time made the contract almost past its sell-by date before the first hole in the ground is even dug? We are looking at a long-term contract and it is such a long time.