Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will not go over everything that has been said so I will try to be less than ten minutes. I cannot leave here today without asking something about the hospital because it is the subject of the day that is on everyone's mind. To carry on from what Deputy O'Connell asked, why was only the preliminary cost known? We have some expertise here now. Why did those involved not know that costs which started at €600-odd million would probably end up at €2 billion? That is the question that all the Joe and Mary Soaps, the taxpayers, out there want to know. Why did professional people not say that the preliminary cost was €600-odd million but there were to be add-ons and whatever it was, so the cost would end up at €1.4 billion or €2 billion? Surely someone knows that, in this day and age.