Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has a routine of knocking on doors in his constituency, not only at election time, so he must be acutely aware of the concern over the escalation of the costs, the response of the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform regarding the risk to the State, and the fact that we will not own the infrastructure if the plan goes ahead under the gap-funding model.

Is the Minister concerned that, in its cost-benefit analysis, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform pointed to the kinds of risks that have been stated on the public record? Has he concerns at all in that regard or over the escalating costs? He must be hearing about them on the doorsteps. We are certainly doing so.

Does he know who is in the consortium? I have asked this at the Committee of Public Accounts on several occasions. As late as this morning, we were told that we could not to get the information at this point and that it was not available. Surely we should know who the beneficial owners are.

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