Ms Barbara Nolan:

Deputy Durkan asked about shovel-ready projects. We want the fund. The objective is for the fund to be operational by mid-2015. Some good projects that are probably already in the pipeline have not been able to draw sufficient funding for the reasons I have mentioned, including the risk element. Nobody is willing to take the risk factor. The idea is that projects should be ready to go in mid-2015. The Deputy was correct when he said it should be operational within six months. We should be out there getting these projects under way within six months. We want a quick turnaround as well. That is the whole point of having this plan. We want the projects to be up and ready within a timeframe that extends from mid-2015 to 2017. That is the objective.

Deputy Kyne asked about the cross-border element of these projects. There is no rule that says they must cross a certain number of countries. I agree with him that mainland Europe would clearly have a certain advantage in this regard. Of course attention will be paid to the needs of peripheral member states, such as islands, that have particular problems or need different types of interconnections. I would not say that is necessarily going to be a problem.