David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Ó hÓbáin spoke earlier in some detail about the nature of the contract, which I will get to in a second. The witnesses might not be in a position to tell us the cost now. There have been several newspaper articles, such as the one in The Irish Times, which estimated the cost at between €1.5 billion and €3 billion. It could be less or it could be more; we do not know. The witnesses are not going to comment on it. At what point, as taxpayers, will we know how much the State liability is? Can we be told when the contracts are signed?