Mr. Tom Costello:

On the first comment about our confidence in the contractors, I refer to the way the contract is structured. We gave the first phase to BAM Ireland. However, during the second phase, if there was any reason that we did not want to go forward, including when we checked whether it was the best option for the project, we had the option of not going ahead with the contractor. Earlier, I mentioned slides Nos. 18 and 19 and Mr. Pollock can explain them if the committee so wishes. Following all of the interrogations that we did, and looking at the different options that we had, it transpired that the option of choosing BAM Ireland was by a large margin the best choice in terms of cost and certainty. Given the increase in cost, our decision was not made lightly. Our decision was based on the work that we had done and we made a recommendation to proceed on that basis.