Mr. Maurice Buckley:

Inflation is a huge issue for us all, but in the construction industry, in particular, it is enormous. As the Deputy may know, the price of concrete and structural steel has gone up significantly in the last while. This has impacted on all of our work, buildings and flood relief schemes. Mr. Casey just discussed with Deputy Colm Burke a scheme in Glashaboy in County Cork, where in the period between issuing the tender and awarding the contract, the contractor said it could not do the job for the price it had tendered because the prices had risen so much in the meantime, and we had to issue the tender again.