Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The most senior official in that Department, who has years of experience, was very definite about that. He did not say it may not represent value for money; he said it does not represent value for money.

I refer to the fact that the cost to the private operator, in other words, what it will cost it, was overestimated by €1 billion. It was not overestimated by €10 million or €20 million. It is €1,000 million. That is on a project the entire cost of which we were told only a couple of years ago would be between €1 billion and €2 billion and that the taxpayer's contribution would be €500 million or somewhere shy of €1 billion. The overestimation is €1,000 million and that was only discovered in April of this year, literally as this project has been rolling on. As a layperson, that would have red lights flashing all over the place for me.

In terms of the public, there are major concerns about the overall cost, the discrepancies, the changes in cost and the changes in what the private operator is contributing. PwC is a long established, reputable company but it is far wide of the mark in many different areas. I refer to the whole basis of this contract and the way it kept changing. Those of us who have been following this for some time know it has literally changed, twisted and turned many times and the figures for costs have changed but the figure of €1,000 million, which was only discovered in April, is astonishing. Would Ms Ball not have concerns about that?