Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I agree with the Minister on that point. I have heard much commentary on this issue. Only this morning, someone told me how much a five star hotel bedroom cost, but we are not building a hotel. It is a completely different animal.

Let me refer to the cross-government committee, the Government Contracts Committee, that covered the period between 2014 and 2016. The briefing document states the contact was the best type to deliver a project like this. To follow on from Deputy Durkan, the position on price should have been clear at that point. Based on the type of contract involved, the price of €983 million, or the first price of €650 million, or whatever it was, could never have been the final one. It would have been much easier if, from the start, people had been clear on the elasticity in the second phase of the hospital project.

Let me ask a very simple question. Will we be getting something better in 2022 than we believed ten years ago? Essentially, are we to have a better product for our children that will lead to better outcomes than those on the table today, in March 2017 or June 2016? I am aware that outcomes are very hard to quantify, but perhaps Mr. Breslin might be able to answer that question.