Mr. Dominic Mullaney:

In respect of the Killaloe bypass, which the Senator mentioned, the preliminary contract is progressing and is due to progress further when the contract documents have been completed. The Minister had a discussion with me about projects to address congestion in towns and he has recently given approval to a project in Athy going to tender. We have not got to the point of a main tender in respect of Killaloe just yet, but judging by my conversation with him, he is very open to relieving traffic congestion within towns. I do not envisage that the NDP will contain no such bypasses. Obviously, there are commitments in the programme for Government relating to the 2:1 ratio and so on. It is a question of evaluating what projects are ready to go, which have got approval from An Bord Pleanála, what the estimated cost is and to confirm they are still good value for money.