Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

It would ill become me to come between Ulick O'Connor and Senator Norris. To date, €393,509.62 has been paid out by the Department in respect of the design, engineering, architectural, financial and legal fees relating to the new Abbey Theatre project. The majority of this expenditure is project as opposed to site specific. Irrespective of what development takes place in respect of the Abbey - and regardless of where it occurs - much of the money relating to the study can be carried on and will not be lost.

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