Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On 27 August, the Minister was told that the costs were escalating to the tune of several hundred million euro. He did not know it was €450 million but the statements received by the committee over the past few weeks confirm that it was in the range of several hundred million euro. The Minister responded to a parliamentary question on 18 September concerning the original cost of the children's hospital if it was in budget when compared to the original budget. The Minister said that the total budgeted cost was €983 million, which was the 2017 cost. He also said that capital expenditure to date was in line with expected expenditure. We all now know that the Minister knew at that point that it was not in line with expected expenditure. Contracts may not have been signed but the Minister had been made aware that it was above by several hundred million euro. Does the Minister accept that his response to a parliamentary question was misleading?