Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have to say that I do not see the forward planning as an improvement. For this committee, it is imperative that the mistakes of the past are not repeated, given the spending that has gone into a black hole. I will put it to the witnesses again. Never mind the fact it is €150 million running to €300 million for three combined projects that are now gone by the wayside. Were they vanity projects of the Government or were they proposals that were never going to work, and we just ended up spending this money? Is there incompetence somewhere that is not being unearthed? I do not know of any business, and I was in business in logistics for a long time, where you would outlay €150 million and then blame a matter of policy for it being removed. Either the policy was bonkers in the first place or the proposed project was not costed correctly and was bonkers, and nobody of any worth signed off on it. As a committee, we need to recommend that with anything of the nature and cost of these projects, NewERA and the NTMA would have to give official sign-off before any further actions are taken. There is incompetence somewhere and we do not have enough time to unearth it.