Mr. Kenneth Spratt:

Covid-19 has resulted in increased remote working and learning but we need to remember that travel for work accounts for less than one quarter of all travel. Having said that, the National Transport Authority has very good models that it uses to predict and forecast transport demand. While Covid-19 will have an impact on future travel demand, the initial indications from the modelling the NTA and TII have done are that demand for transport and travel will still increase, albeit at a slower rate. We will need to run all our proposed projects through the modelling processes to ensure that the cost-benefit analyses hold up, and we are very conscious of that.

As to the impact of Covid-19 on the funding available for the national development plan, NDP, we have to wait and see what comes out of the NDP process. We have made a fairly detailed submission to our colleagues in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and will engage with it over the coming months. We know that we will need more money than what was set out in the original NDP and these will be the series of conversations we will have with the Department over the coming months, ahead of the final publication of the revised NDP in the middle of the year.