Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The estimated cost in 2013 or so was €500 million. That was when Bord na Móna showed an interest in being involved. Within two years, by 2015, that figure had doubled. What would the figure be? I am flagging up the concern deliberately. Is it a case of this happening again? There are still significant concerns about the broadband scheme. The Shannon scheme could turn out to be very expensive. There are environmental issues related to it, though they are not matters to discuss here. The overall cost is a concern. It is concerning that the Departments of Finance and Housing, Local Government and Heritage have not already done preparatory work on costs and projections. Will it be announced in a press conference, out of the blue, that the State and taxpayer have to pony up this money without any due diligence being done? The Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform will co-sign the cheque. The public will pay it.

There is concern that there may be much publicity for a time which then dies away. What is happening now? Will there be fewer office blocks in Dublin because many more people are working from home? Will the population flatten at a point? Will there be a shift in population away from the east coast? Is it a good idea to pump water into the leaking bucket that is the water system in Dublin, where 45% is being lost through leaky pipes? Would it be a better idea to fix the leaky pipes? Those are the questions that members of the public are asking. If these issues are not addressed by the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and Finance, when the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage comes knocking on their door for the cheque, will we see a repeat of past issues? Would they enter into a somewhat open-ended contract with costs that escalate over a period to several billion? I ask the witnesses to take that concern away to consider. Will they come back to the committee with a report and synopsis of any preparatory work and discussions about that scheme that have taken place to date?

Surely, in the nine years since the idea of this project was floated, there must have been discussions and phone calls made between the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Department of Finance, and maybe the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as well. In that time, what discussions have taken place? What assessments have been made in terms of the cost to the State and in terms of due diligence on this? Is it a good idea? If Mr. Hogan could come back to the committee with that, I would appreciate it.