Mr. Mark Griffin:

There is a process that has to be gone through. A figure was presented to the Department by NBI as part of the interim remedial plan, which was 60,000 by the end of January 2022. Leaving aside what was provided for in the contract initially, we now know the figure was 34,454 at the end of January. We are all over that like a rash in terms of the assessment as to whether that target stands up against the root cause analysis and whether there is an entitlement to relief by the contractor. That is very much in play and there is a huge amount of due diligence being done.

Similarly, before we accept a figure from NBI for 2022, we will do a very detailed assessment ourselves to determine whether it is credible and realistic. If we sign up both parties to an updated interim remedial plan for 2022 and if those figures are not achieved rolling forward, then penalties will apply against the targets. From my perspective, there is a level of assurance when we look at the number of premises surveyed, the designs done and the premises at construction. There is a degree of momentum now that gives us a greater level of assurance. However, we will look at things very closely and do our own assessment on whatever figure NBI provides to us. As we said to Deputy Catherine Murphy, we expect that work to be completed by the end of March and we will share it with the committee.