Mr. Mark Griffin:

We certainly expect to see the level of consultancy overhead dial down from when we have the deployment completed after year 7 because that is where the big overhead cost is in monitoring the project. It is not the only overhead, obviously. There will be responsibilities that will entail thereafter. If the Deputy wants me to put a figure on it for the next 25 years, I absolutely cannot do that at this point in time.

The other thing we need to consider is how the system more broadly manages big projects like this. One of the options for us is the status quowith a function in-house with less external support. That builds on the work EY did for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.