Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Red lights were flashing all over the place at the point when the new board took over. That was in addition to all the debate on the hospital itself. There was the McKinsey report, the Dolphin report, and we have had reviews on the move from the Mater Hospital to St. James. It was red flagged over and over. Now Mr. Costello and Mr. Pollock are sitting before the committee. I have looked through their statements to see what they have learned and what they have identified as failures, which is all I am interested in, and to know what happened and how can we prevent it from happening in future. I have no confidence that they have learned anything. I do not want to be personal and am doing my best, but it is difficult to read all this material. We are not experts but our job is to look at governance and accountability. The cost given to the Committee of Public Accounts in 2015 was €650 million including VAT. I quote from the Official Report:

The €650 million is the all-in cost. It includes VAT, inflation, contingency sums and the project cost. There are equipping costs and design fees. There are a whole load of other costs.

We know that there are a whole load of other costs but the figure of €650 million included VAT and contingency. Now, today, the figure is at €2 billion. Actually, we will not exaggerate, it is at €1.4-something billion, then €1.7 billion but there is no definitive answer as to whether it will go up to the €2 billion figure.