Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform runs the capital programme. It is also involved with PPPs as an extension to the public capital programme and is in contact with the other Departments, including the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Another issue that is worth investigating is the need for investment at the ports, if the model is export-led growth. Certainly the four or five key ports require investment. If one asks, apart from social infrastructure, what elements of infrastructure could bring extra growth to a country, the key areas are water, energy and the ports. I would welcome the committee doing some work on that and making some proposals and we would take them seriously. At the end of the day we all live in the same country.