According to written answers to a series of questions asked by Brian O'Shea TD, the total estimated cost of relocating the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Laboratories and the State Laboratory from Abbotstown to Backweston will be £157 million. In addition, the relocation of the Marine Institute to Galway is estimated to cost £31 million.

So after all the huffing and puffing we now know that the total cost of demolishing and clearing a site for Sports Campus Ireland and relocating the facilities will cost £188 million, about £88 million more than the upper end of what anyone had previously estimated. Is this the shape of things to come ?