Mr. Derek Tierney:

The system has learned since 2019. In my response to Deputy Shortall, I said that the public spending code has been adapted to take on board the journey and the learnings. In the case of any project over €100 million, as it goes through a gated process from outline through to post-market engagement, there is now an obligation to layer in an external insurance review at two of the gates. Every project over €100 million is now subject to a Department of Public Expenditure and Reform process, which it calls a major projects advisory group. That seeks to remove as much uncertainty as possible as a project travels through the public spending code to the point of contract award. Full and 100% certainty will never be achieved because that is the nature of the market we engage with and of construction projects over €100 million, but the key learning and what it seeks to do is get as much certainty as possible before we commit to contract. We are tied to public works contracts and they are on a fixed price, lump sum and time-bound basis. That is under review by the Office of Government Procurement under the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. We await the outcome of that review in terms of that contract form and how we might use it in the context of future developments, whether it is the national maternity hospital, the construction of elective care centres in Dublin, Cork and Galway or future projects over €100 million.