Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Without putting words in the witness's mouth, it is reasonable for me to assume from his response that there would have been an expression of worry for the process around claims.

This leads me on to the next question. In his opening statement, Mr. Dempsey stated "The development board and the Department are nearing finalisation of this long and detailed analysis, which includes a determination of potential updates to the timeline and costs of the project." To what extent is the claims process mapped onto that "long and detailed analysis"? If I understand the previous witnesses correctly, it seems to me that if one was trying to map who is winning the battle of the claims war, the board is about a nose ahead at present but in the long-term analysis, it could be that the contractor might come out on top from a financial point of view. In other words, is there a deeper analysis of this taking place around the claims process?