David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is two and a half years later and we still do not have any contract signed. Therefore, we have to make a decision on whether the good people about whom Mr. Griffin spoke - I am sure they are good people - arrived at the right decision. In my opening remarks I said there was a perception that the entire project had become a bit of a mess. That is the backdrop to this conversation. We are looking at the different ownership, funding and contractual options, at which KPMG looked, one of which was the private sector build, finance, own, operate with obligations option. The advantages were clearly stated as being that this option would reduce costs through increased competition. Two and a half years later, however, we have ended up with a process in which there is one bidder left. That does not chime with the advantages set out for the option. Will Mr. Griffin at least acknowledge that that is the case? We have not ended up with more bidders and competition.