Ms Tracey Conroy:

I will come in on the question about when the Minister was told, which was the subject of some discussion earlier. At each stage of the process when it became clear or when the build board indicated an escalation in costs, the Minister was apprised. We referred to post-April 2017. An issue arose in September 2017 with regard to potential additional costs of €60 million. The Minister was apprised as soon as the Department became aware of it. The issue was the subject of detailed discussion, including with regard to mitigation measures and the use of contingency funds and so on, between the steering group, the CHP&P board and the build board from September 2017 to August 2018 when the further indication of the escalation of costs was indicated by the build board to the Department. That was on 24 August 2018. The Minister was apprised on 27 August. In other words, 24 August was a Friday and the Minister was told on the Monday. I will emphasise that it was an indication of escalation of cost. At that stage, the build board was in the process of finalising the guaranteed maximum price for the contractor. It was going through that process. The Department advised the Minister of that. The build board then went through its process of finalising the negotiations, having a guaranteed maximum price agreed and making a recommendation, which it did in November to the HSE and the Department. It made a recommendation on the guaranteed maximum price and the next steps and whether the build board would proceed with phase B with the contractor.