Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for his questions. The decision not to halt the project was taken by the Government. It was not a wish-wash response from any Department official, as the Senator is trying to suggest. It was carefully considered at a meeting of Government on 18 December last year, at which all the options were considered. There was much consideration of the options by the Department, the Minister and officials in the HSE prior to that meeting. A decision was taken not to halt the project, and that decision was not taken lightly, I assure the Senator.

As for the issue of the review being undertaken and commissioned by the Government, it is important to maintain a distance between the two different issues. One is whether there is value for money here. That is what people want to know. It may be the case that the projected costs were unrealistic and not right. We do not know where the error lies, whether it was on the side of whoever projected the costs on the first day and got it so badly wrong, or whether we are still getting value for money. That is the key issue I, as a taxpayer and Minister of State, and the Government want to get to the bottom of and that is what the review will determine. We have decided to wait for that review. It will not be a very long time. I do not have the exact date that the Senator asked me for, but we will have the review imminently. When it will be-----