Mr. Sebastian Barnes:

It is absolutely essential because this is a major reform. It will have a major impact on the country and on healthcare provision, but also on the public finances. If the Government were to tell us that the cost is the same as it was before, that is fine with me too. The key point is that we need to see an estimate of the cost and to understand how that has been arrived at so we can consider whether there might be risks or weaknesses. With a major change to a big area of spending, such as Sláintecare, thought must be given to potential risks and overruns. That partly depends on how well the costings have been done and we cannot assess that because we do not have up-to-date numbers.