Mr. Fred Barry:

I will not say we never do so but the normal practice is that the local authority deals directly with smaller applications. On larger applications, such as for an industrial development that may have a significant impact, the local authority will consult us. We would never act unilaterally on a development along a route.

I smiled when I was asked about staff numbers because the staff requirements for the major build programme stopped in 2009 or 2010.

A large number of NRA staff and local authority staff were involved in the design and planning. The supervision on the ground is carried out by consultants rather than by the National Roads Authority. It is not that we do not have people taking care of it but the larger staff numbers have reduced since 2009. By 2011 or thereabouts, the NRA had largely disbanded the major project improvement teams. One of our teams dealt solely with public-private partnership projects and has been disbanded entirely. The team dealing with major projects has been greatly reduced. We have incurred new responsibilities relating to the management of the new network. Many of our staff now deal with a series of EU directives on tunnel safety, road infrastructure safety, electronic tolling and so on. However, the number of staff engaged in the project and regional offices has been cut by 50%. The total of head office staff has dropped by approximately 25% in the same period. At the moment our biggest problem is that we have insufficient staff and we are highly reliant on outside consultants to carry out our obligations.