Mr. John Conlon:

It is a very speculative question and I am loath to answer it in the way the Deputy wants me to answer, to be very frank. I have to deal in facts. That is what I deal in on a day-to-day basis, particularly in terms of property negotiations. Suggesting somewhere between €5 million and €8 million is slightly unfair.

We bid what we bid to get this purchase done based on the professional advice and based on the business case. We were determined to try to reunite this estate and that is what we have achieved. It involved paying a premium for the property which the State has done in other strategic purchases. That is something the State does sometimes to achieve its objectives in reuniting estates or increasing our portfolio for heritage, nature or whatever. I am quite satisfied that the approach we took stacked up on that basis. It failed in the earlier part in 2022 because it was outbid in the market - as I said, that happens. Again, I am looking forward on this. We wanted to reunite the estate and we did. We made every effort to do so through working with our property negotiators and working with the business case to make sure it economically stacked up. Then it was sanctioned by the Department of public expenditure and we move on from there.