Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Can the Tánaiste state with certainty that this will stay within €2 billion? The idea that it is a gross underestimation does not reflect what the report is saying. The report is saying there was a complete absence of control, incoherence, lack of information, red flags, poor governance and so on. It is similar to other projects. The Government has not learned. With regard to the broadband plan, €550 million is going to go to €2 billion or €3 billion depending on how it is calculated. It has happened with the event centre in Cork. The lesson is that when the Government tells everybody that this project has to happen without due diligence, everybody, including developers, knows they have the Government where they want it.

That is why a former Minister chased down one of the tenderers for broadband desperately to get them over the line because politically the Government has to get them over the line. The costs soar out of control.

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