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

I thank members for their questions. I want to emphasise that I accept that to address the development needs of the region, we must improve the road infrastructure in the area. My challenge is that I need to meet those needs in the context of a fixed budget. The budget will always be fixed in the future. However, as we see economic recovery, I am aiming to ensure that not only will funding be there to better maintain what we have, but there will be funding to progress projects needed for the economic development of the entire island. When we get to that point, the projects raised here this morning will be considered. Members will be aware that I have representatives from many parts of the country making different points to me regarding projects in their areas. The A5 project has a political reference in terms of recent agreements that have been made to give it a particular status.

I have always recognised that in other contributions I have made to this committee.

On the proposal in regard to the working group on North-South connectivity, my initial response, although I will give it further thought, is that the North-South Ministerial Council, in which I participate regularly, is the mechanism through which my Department and I aim to progress these matters. I will share with the committee the minutes and communiqué that came out of the last North-South Ministerial Council, which touch on many of the points made here today. It is the main mechanism through which I progress these issues and matters in relation to the A5.

The issue of the Narrow Water bridge project was raised. It is an issue on which I touched earlier in my response to questions from Mr. Conor Murphy, MP. My understanding is that the final tender price was double the initial estimate. The project was estimated to cost €15 million and the final cost, which became apparent towards the end of the process, was approximately €30 million. I do not assign singular responsibility for this to anybody, because that is the work of others. None the less, it is important to make the observation that if a project doubles in cost during the tender process this poses acute difficulties for everybody, including the Government, the local authorities and anybody else making a contribution to it. I am sure some of the members here today could make the point that an additional €15 million in the context of the overall size of my capital budget could easily be found. However, the fundamental point is that if a project doubles in cost and is very different from what people originally expected, finding the additional funding for it is exceptionally difficult. The disappointment expressed by many speakers today is shared by Government.

In regard to progress in this matter, before I can get into how funding for it will now be committed, or, as Deputy Kirk said, how we propose to plan for these things in the future, I need further clarification about the project. Senator Jim D'Arcy asked who will do this.