Mr. Tom Costello:

So not to worry, I will answer the question. The process of the two-stage bid finished just in November. At that stage the design was fully complete and co-ordinated and the bill of quantities was worked up based on that completed design, and the contractors have verified certainty around that. Furthermore, the three main contractors, namely, BAM, Jones Engineering Group and Mercury, in terms of the co-ordination of their efforts, have validated the programme. As I said, the co-ordination of everything goes into it because it is a very complex project. At the end of all this we have also now completed the involvement of the user engagement, which had gone on until recently, and also the statutory issue. There is now certainty around the inputs and matters as we go forward. As Mr. Pollock said earlier in his statement, we are really disappointed by how it has progressed from €983 million to the current figure, but this is the end of a process which we set out to do five years ago to bring certainty before we started the main contract works. There is, then, a huge amount of cost to be expended on this project, yet relative to what is spent. We are in a position that, as we set out on the journey of spending that, we have certainty on the cost and programme.

On the Deputy's question, a number of projects come to mind. In the pharmaceutical industry, which is in the private sector, a project in Cruiserath, north Dublin some years ago set out to be €400 million but, at the end of the day, the cost was close to €1 billion. Recently I was looking at this in terms of what occurred at Battersea Power Station, which is high profile and also in the private sector. With regard to the refurbishment of that power station, those concerned set out to spend €800 million and now it is targeted at €1.2 billion.