Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I was listening to them in my office and I heard most of the deliberations. There has been a long history and saga with this project but it is heartening to see the photographic evidence the witnesses have presented on the progress where we can see the physical size of the project and the progress over the past year with the heights of the various parts of the project. It is heartening to see this, notwithstanding the delays or the inability to give a concluding timescale for the project. I understand the Covid delays, and every construction site was closed down and there were knock-on effects. Are the witnesses concerned that BAM has been prioritising other projects and, therefore, not bringing work people onto this site? They mentioned the figure of 900 work operatives on site and it was planned there would be 1,600.

This time last year, there was a four-month delay which was a six-month delay by the time the Covid lockdown started. What was the reason for this? Obviously there were no Covid delays at that stage. Why exactly was there a delay at that stage? Has that been ironed out? It was a four-month delay and by the time the lockdown started it was a six-month delay.