Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes but surely the bidder was the one person remaining in the process who could pull the rug from under the Government and the State on this at that time. The bidder would have realised at that stage that it had all the clout. Mr. Smyth knows how a negotiation with tenderers or any kind of negotiation works. There is always a power play and at that point the remaining bidder holds the full deck of cards. We are saying the Minister met him to make sure he was motivated to stay in the process. He has put this on the record. The Minister had the weakest hand here and any business person in that situation would be saying to the Minister, or whoever was on the other side, that they would remain in the process provided the terms and conditions were suitable to their needs, if not they would not stay in it. Does Mr. Smyth not agree?