Mr. Maurice Buckley:

I will comment first on the rate of inflation. As Deputy Burton said, in the OPW we are experiencing rampant construction inflation. The figures the Minister of State has quoted are the market figures of the Society of Chartered Surveyors and the trend is upwards. This time last year we would have had a figure of 4% or 5% and been pricing our own building projects at a rate of 6% to 7%, thinking we were being conservative.

As the Minister of State said, construction inflation is recognised in the industry as being at least 8%. The OPW believes it is running much higher and my personal guess is that it is 11% or 12%. It is much higher again in specific parts of the industry, such as mechanical and electrical work which is a major component of the construction work on the national children's hospital that Deputy Burton asked about.