Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We need something that is included in the deal, in the documents and that has legal standing. A correspondence to this committee does not bear that kind of legal weight, as far as I am aware but I am not a legal professional. It would have to be something that in the 298th year they can still point to.

I want to move on to the business case. I am aware that the business case is still under review. I have a number of questions. First, can the Minister elaborate a bit on that review? My understanding is that the hospital itself is to be 55,000 sq m. I am drawing on a previous life when I say that the healthcare build costs are approximately €5,000 per square metre. That would give us a cost for the hospital of €275 million. If you add on maybe 25% for VAT and fees, 25% for equipping, that still brings us to a figure that is under €500 million. Yet, we are quoting a figure of €1 billion in the general ether of this conversation. How have we got to the figure of €1 billion? Where is that number coming from? By the way, I have factored inflation into my figures.