Dr. Brian Caulfield:

Yes. I thank Senator Boylan for some very interesting questions. I have worked with the NTA model and cost-benefit analysis is something I teach in Trinity. I can say that the modelling approach that is undertaken by the NTA is world class. It is what other cities do.

Mr. Creegan rightly said that the benefit-cost ratio is not the be-all and end-all, and that we do need to look at social aspects. There was some really nice work done on the Limerick strategy where the NTA looked at the number of new public transport services that were going into deprived areas. When something like that is integrated into this type of analysis it is very effective.

I teach cost-benefit analysis to students in Trinity and one of the things that we did recently was we looked at the cost of carbon as part of a road investment project. One has to tweak the cost of carbon very high before it makes any difference to the benefit-cost ratio, so that is something that does need to be looked at in terms of transport appraisal. I suspect the last question on directly elected mayors was for Dr. Torney, but my answer to that is "Yes" if the mayor has power and a budget.