Mr. Jim Breslin:

There is a lot to unpick in that and it could be argued in different ways. One of the things the two-stage process does give is the ability to mobilise onto the site, decant and do the groundworks while still elucidating the final design brief for the above ground works. There is a time saving in that. It is also using one call to the market in terms of the tender process, and there is a time saving in that. Therefore, there are time savings in the two-stage process. The Deputy is asking the question with the hindsight we have, which is that, in this case, the two-stage process opened up such a gap between the estimates when stage A was conducted and when we now have the final costings that it placed the Government in a position that it had to consider other options because it was so significant. One of those option was retendering, which would have added to it. If the two-stage process had worked seamlessly and we had gone from the €893 million and stayed in or around that mark, then it would have saved time and it would have been on budget.