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

That question cuts to the heart of a number of the challenges we have. On the question of whether they are using old figures, I would refer to the degree of cost inflation taking place in our economy with all the pressures that are there to deliver more homes while there is huge private sector investment under way. A business case can be put together with figures that are right at a point in time. Those figures can be done with best practice and done professionally but because of how quickly things change within our economy, for some big projects those figures can no longer be reflective of what is happening in the economy quite soon afterwards. That is the reason why we have work under way in the public spending code. In particular for projects above €100 million, we need to work to make sure the business case and the cost of these projects continue to be realistic and accurate.

See this speech in context