Seòmar agus comataidhean

Did you seek an independent QC’s legal advice on that or did you just take the advice of officials?

Were you aware of any Cabinet-level discussions about the decision to award preferred bidder status to FMEL?

But there could have been those discussions?

Yes. There is an issue here, of course, in that the proposed contractor was somebody who had close personal connections to the independence movement, your party and, therefore, the party of Government. What was your personal relationship with Mr McColl like?

However, given the widespread media reporting that he was, perhaps, close to the party, did you foresee any political risk in that situation? Could that be one of the banana skins that you wanted to clear?

CMAL said that it did not attend the ceremony for preferred bidder status—which, as we found out today, you also did not—because it was concerned that it would compromise the negotiation position further, critically around the builder’s refund guarantee. What is your view on that?

This was not just issuing letters; this was “Lights, camera, action!” with the First Minister. Given that you had not got there yet and there was still the unresolved issue with the builders refund guarantee, did you have any concern that you were going to compromise further negotiations?

Do you have any examples, particularly in the roads area, where any reprofiling or cost overruns or any other issues are impeding progress?

I know that you are lawyer but we are getting into lawyerspeak here.

There is something a bit fishy about this, is there not? In effect, you have the minister and, in effect, the person who won the contract having one account of this fundamental issue of the builders refund guarantee, and you as the agency responsible were blissfully unaware of that. There is something fishy in this, is there not?