Mr. Ken Spratt:

I cannot give the Deputy a number. The Oireachtas enacts laws and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform rightly ensures that rules are in place so that taxpayers' money is well spent. We have a body of common law and property rights that ensure people have certain rights that they can exercise before the courts. We as civil servants have to comply with the law of the land and public procurement rules. We have to appear before Oireachtas committees, including this one, and give them assurances that we have done our best to maximise value for money. We have a public spending code, which was introduced as a result of major capital projects going wrong. One reason that projects go wrong is because of pressure being applied in order to estimate the costs in a particular way in order to project the benefits in a particular way, speed up delivery schedules and ensure that the procurement strategy saves time.

I understand the Deputy's frustration. We tend to be frustrated with all of the rules, regulations and laws with which we have to comply, but we do comply with them and we will comply with them. Therefore, all I can say to the Deputy regarding the amount of time a process will take from concept-----