Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

When this was mooted first, a figure of €450 million was given. The figure then increased to €650 million and then to €983 million. The net figure was €916 million in Exchequer funding from that. Listening to how this has played out, it seems that the detail was only completed last November. This was not an estimate, but rather a guesstimate; not everything was counted. Is that how the Department operates its budget on other capital projects? It did not have the correct numbers and could not put a reliable figure in the budget from the beginning. It did not have the final figure until last November, when the detail was finalised.