Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to Deputy O'Donovan's comments, the An Bord Pleanála process on roads has been extremely frustrating for me, the Department and the NRA. We have had three significant refusals in recent years in Slane, Adare and Dingle. Not only do I think it made the wrong decision it is very frustrating that so much money was expended and so much time used only for us to end up with nothing. Something similar happened with the children's hospital on the Mater site. One can have one's views on the site but much time, effort and money were taken up, delays were caused and then An Bord Pleanála turned around and refused it. This is the law and the power they have at present. It used to be the case a Minister could override the planning authorities. I am not sure I would reintroduce it as it could be very dangerous and certainly it was misused in the past, but there is an argument that a resolution of the Dáil could be used on an issue of national importance. It is a bigger question for the Government. To answer the Deputy's question we need a better process. At the very least the NRA should be able to engage in pre-planning and post-planning discussions with An Bord Pleanála just like the RPA and CIE can. We discussed this previously when discussing Adare. I propose to examine it in the context of the Bill to merge the NRA and RPA to see if we can include provision allowing for such discussions. It is not in the Bill as published but we are examining it. We will have to discuss it with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.

Deputy Ellis mentioned rail prices. I am not sure how often he goes to Britain but if he really wants to see where trains are expensive he should go there.