Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

I would like to make an observation in the context of other projects. The trend in construction costs over the span of the 2000s involved an enormous and rapid increase up to 2006 or 2007, followed by a complete collapse. I think there is a general awareness in society that this happened. One would expect every project, considering them on a like-for-like basis, to be procured now at a much better price than would have been the case in 2007. That would be one's expectation purely on the basis of the price indicators. If one were to carry out a piece of audit work based on the hypothesis that this is what one expects to find, one would seek accountability if one found a current project that is not cheaper, on a like-for-like basis, than a 2007 project. An Accounting Officer would have something to answer for, at a current date, in such circumstances.