Seanad debates
Wednesday, 15 October 2003
Public Transport: Motion.
In the European Union, we have free movement of goods and services. If we cannot obtain a decent deal from the Irish construction industry, let us advertise it all over Europe. If necessary, let us ask Professor Melis to bring over a team to do the job for us, if we are incapable of doing it ourselves at the right price. The costings for this project are absurd. In a radio interview, the head of this operation mentioned a figure of the order of €4.8 billion, of which the construction cost was only €1.2 billion. When he was asked how the other €3.6 billion was accounted for, he referred to contingencies, overruns and insurance. If insurance and contingencies are to cost three times as much as the cost of construction, we are in an Alice in Wonderland situation. Let us get back to reality, with the excellent talent we have in this House and push forward for the metro.
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