Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The public consultation aspect of many projects that are on the way at the moment, such as BusConnects, is not as satisfactory as it ought to be. That is due to Covid and people not being able to get briefings and small maps and things like that. There will also be procurement issues. The issue of whether they are building in delays into tender projects in the context of the current stop-start nature of the construction sector is something about which I have concerns in terms of adding to the costs. I know that is probably more an issue for the Committee on Transport and Communication Networks, but this is a very sizeable project and there is reason for extra care to be taken. I think it would be quite useful to ask the Department and the NTA how they are managing construction projects and how they are tendered for in the context of Covid.