Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will take these questions. What I said yesterday is that I believe we need to be far more sparing and careful with the use of two-phase processes in the future. I believe they may have a role in the future, in particular to facilitate preparatory works for some projects, such that when and if a final agreement is reached a project can then move ahead without further delay. As I said, we need to make sparing use of them in the future.

In response to the second point which Deputy Donnelly put to the Minister for Health, regarding the point at which we move ahead, the point I made yesterday, which I am happy to restate now, is that for large projects, which stretch across many Departments and for which there is a higher variance of cost than, for example, the construction of a primary care centre or a road in respect of which we all know the cost, the final decision from Government should not come until we are crystal clear on the tendered cost.

See this speech in context