Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will begin with Deputy McGinley's contribution and will make one broad point. When I was in County Donegal on Monday, I had the opportunity to meet the American Chamber of Commerce and a group of employers. All were united in saying that road connectivity was absolutely essential to economic development. They made the point - these considerations are applicable across the Border counties and in all the areas represented here - that from the points of view of cost competitiveness, skills and many other factors which play a big role in investment being attracted to an area or people making a decision to set up a business, the region is doing very well in regard to many things. Their belief was that road infrastructure and the need for connectivity on the island was essential to making the most of that. That was one of the reasons I made the decision to maintain the public service obligation arrangement between Donegal Airport and Dublin. I was pleased to see the reaction to that decision from the business community in the area.

Deputy McGinley asked about the timeline, when a public inquiry may end and what that process would be. That is very much a decision for the Northern Ireland authorities and the planning bodies involved in that. As the Deputy knows, I have no role in that regard but if we look at how processes like that have worked in the past, if a public inquiry were to take place, it is estimated that all that work would be completed around spring 2017. However, that is just our judgment on what the process would be.

Deputy O'Reilly made a point about the economic opportunity in the Border counties because of the change in the euro and the importance of local infrastructure making the most of that. The Deputy said he detected a note of hope in my voice. There is always hope in my voice when I look at things we are trying to deliver and move forward. However, that hope needs to be grounded in realism. My challenge is that while I have an amount of money which is, in many ways, better than it was a year ago, there is still a large number of competing demands on that money. I am doing my very best to see that money is allocated in the best way possible. It is because of that I cannot give a commitment currently to some of the significant projects for which everyone is looking. However, I am very clear on their importance. What I am trying to do in the interim is to find ways to progress other pieces of work that will make a contribution to road safety.

In regard to the point Mr. Conor Murphy put to me, looking back at the process that took place in regard to the bridge, the files and the discussions I have had with my officials, an important lesson is the need for real clarity in regard to the actual cost and to give everybody time to plan so that we do not find that many agreements are in place, as Mr. Murphy said, and much good work is done but, in the final phase, there is a significant change in the cost of the project which results in great disappointment for many people.

Mr. Murphy referred to the role of the European Union and the different sources of funding. That is an area where we both have skills and on which we have been working for quite a while in regard to different projects. We need real clarity in regard to the real cost of the project and while I will still face constraints in terms of the amount of money I have, it is precisely because we face those constraints that we would work to explore other sources of funding. INTERREG and SEUPB funding are the kinds of funding on which we would actively work with our colleagues in the North.