David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is where it gets frustrating. The board told us that the request was not related to that, what it needed was money to pay for rising costs, and there would be a separate requirement to deal with outstanding claims and so on. Every time we ask a question about costs, we are told they are commercially sensitive, so answers cannot be given. It strikes me that the hospital will be well built before we know how much it costs. I do not see how the question of how much money the Cabinet was asked for and potentially approved can be commercially sensitive. It beggars belief. In any event, there was a figure of €1.433 billion. The Government gave the board an extra €40 million. The board had asked for more, but the Minister is saying that, for commercially sensitive reasons, he cannot or will not give me the figure. He is leaving this open to speculation, which is not good. There is a great deal of speculation about the numbers. I do not get into that, as I want factual information.

How confident is the Minister that the September date will be met?