Mr. Peter Walsh:

I have never seen it done this way before. In the previous development plan, projects were submitted on the basis of what part of the networks were deficient. We had done our own assessment of how they performed under various headings, from the capacity of the road to the volume of traffic that was trying to use it, so there were volume to capacity ratios for each section of the network, and then the manner in which it would provide connectivity and so on. These were our own means of assessment drawn from the public spending code. This time around, the Department has set out a more comprehensive series of criteria.