Mr. Ciarán Ó hÓbáin:

I will talk at a very high level about what was not in the cost–benefit analysis. Perhaps Mr. Mulligan will talk about the pessimistic and optimistic ratios. Regarding the cost-benefit analysis, there is a methodology in the public spending code. It is a very good discipline. One cannot make it up as one goes. One has to have the same set of rules for all cost-benefit analyses in order that the Government can have the ability to compare projects A, B and C over time.

The Senator is correct that the Minister called out benefits that cannot be captured under the public spending code, such as e-health, e-education, social inclusion, rural development, tourism and climate. Yesterday, in responding to parliamentary questions, he focused on the statistics that exist with regard to the percentage of time spent on remote working. A figure of 4% is given but it is recognised that this is increasing.

I refer to the reality when dealing with a technology project. The Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform called this out in his response. The cost–benefit analysis is important as a tool the Government so it can understand, having gone through the rigorous process, the answer it gets. The answer is positive. One must recognise, however, that the methodology has limitations as an analytical tool in that the benefits that will result cannot be measured at this point. If one were to have conducted a cost–benefit analysis on the introduction of a smartphone and follow the set of rules, the benefits one would have included would have been limited to the use of the phone for calls and texts, yet we now recognise all the other applications, such as online banking, email, social media, and entertainment. It is a question of the rigour of the process. One cannot invent a process to match a project but one has to recognise, as a decision maker, that there are limitations in a cost–benefit analysis of a technology project.

Mr. Tom McCormack might explain the pessimistic and optimistic elements.