Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. I apologise in advance as I must leave in a few moments to attend a meeting of the health committee next door. We will be talking about the national children's hospital. We all know what that means: overspending. It is in this regard that I want to start today. The NBI contract is massive and extremely important. It is all the more important given the Covid pandemic and the fact that so many people are working from home. Overall, the cost of delivery is estimated to be about €3 billion over many years. Since there is a multi-annual programme and since, by the delegates' own admission, there is still a lot of legwork to be done to determine what the network really requires on the highways and byways, what is the likelihood of overspending, perhaps not this year, which has already been covered, but next year or the year after that? To what extent has the NBI factored in overspending and having to come back to the Government stating the programme will cost a lot more?