Mr. Fred Barry:

If we had not offered risk-sharing where we carried the traffic risk, we would have been carrying the entire traffic risk. Under the risk-sharing mechanisms that are in place, the State might end up putting in €10 million, €50 million or €100 million, but if they were not in place, the State would be putting in €200 million instead. The option of developing the schemes with the traffic risk being carried in its entirety by the PPP companies simply was not available. It is not as though we said we knew better than them and would take our chances. This was a stark choice. We either took some of the risk or we took all of the risk. We could not get a PPP company to sign up on these terms today. That might change - the pendulum swings back and forth - but right now everyone is risk-averse and we could not get these terms.