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

We are proceeding with that but as with the purchase of any major defence platform and complex project, it requires the finalisation of required capabilities to enable the specification of requirements to be defined before a tender competition can go to the market, and work is ongoing in this regard. An estimate of the cost of the MRV will only be known, of course, once the tender competition is concluded. It is important to note that while the MRV will operate as a naval asset, its role is very much a whole-of-defence one, with the capacity to contribute to the wider maritime domain. The project is being progressed as a major project under the infrastructure guidelines. These are projects with an estimated capital cost in excess of €200 million. A prior information notice published in January gave an estimate of €300 million for the MRV. This estimate, which is based on an independent assessment, was provided for guidance purposes only for the prior information notice.

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