John O'Mahony (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with many of the Chairman's points. Mr. Nolan mentioned the costs of providing services now and its journey. I gather it has gone so far down the road that it has to complete this now in the way he has suggested. In the case of the current tender on the provision of the motorway services at Gorey, Moate and Kilbeggan, which I understand were awarded to Topaz, subsequently appealed and withdrawn, what was the cost of the infrastructure provided by TII and, previously, the National Roads Authority, NRA, to support the tender and the works envisaged in the tender in advance? What was the total cost of professional fees associated with the tender and the works? What was the cost of the land on which the sites were to be developed? Can Mr. Nolan explain further the cost of maintaining and-or securing the sites during the period of the judicial review and to the present date, which, as the Chairman has pointed out, is money down the drain?

At least one of these sites duplicates a service being provided by the private sector. Why is the TII spending public money which could easily be provided by the private sector with no risk to taxpayers? I note that in his presentation Mr. Nolan said TII stepped in because the private sector was not providing the services particularly in the recession.

In the context of the cost beyond that incurred by the private sector in the provision of motorway service sites and the reflection of that cost in the tender price to a successful bidder on a TII site, does the TII accept that the position put forward by the industry suggesting that the onerous costs spread over 25 years conflicts with good economic planning? The viability of these sites is based on the sale of fossil fuels but that will change in less than 25 years. It needs to change and that may render these sites unviable to people given a 25 year concession. I would like the witnesses' comment on that?

Would the TII prefer not to be involved in the provision of motorway services to allow the organisation concentrate on its core objective of motorway provision? The witness spoke about the reduction in maintenance costs handed out by the Government, which we will tease out later. Does it make sense to be investing so much in the services when the money could be used in other ways?