Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with everything that has been said and our role is to keep an eye on the costs. To go back to the Pálás Cinema, we had the exact same issue. The project started at a certain price and there were cost overruns. All of this was set out in the report. Costs arose in parallel with it, which the architect for the Department subsequently said were justified.

I forget which witnesses who came before us were asked whether the cost would stay below €2 billion. They were not in a position to say it would not. They were very upfront and told us they could not state that.

Our role is just to keep an eye on it, to check and to ask questions. The bigger picture, and excuse the bad pun with regard to the Pálás Cinema, is that once it is decided that a project will going ahead, it will go ahead regardless. In Galway, we were told we could not have a hole in the ground and it had to go ahead. In Dublin, we have been told we need the children's hospital without any analysis of the consequences of continuing with the decision or looking at an alternative or the implications for the health of children in other hospitals. Sometimes it is very difficult to see the wood for the trees.