Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

There should, and will, be a certain assessment. It is the right project and I have always said that. However, there will be questions asked in times of limited resources. A metro will, in all likelihood, be very expensive. The people of Limerick might ask how this will be balanced. That will be one of the challenges. However, my sense is that the political system has come around to the view that a metro is the right strategic decision, though there may be different views. We will have to have a debate about that. We will have to discuss it when it comes through this process. The real challenge is going to be how we balance a whole range of different projects.

I come back to this competitive tension between cities, to a certain extent. On other projects, which are less stop-go, such as BusConnects, we must start looking at how we can deliver the outcomes without spending top dollar all the time. How can we get planning or local councils to make it easier for us to make some of the changes that are needed and in that way get more projects through on what is going to be a limited budget. Even with a massive expansion of the transfer budget, which will almost double, we must remember that a lot of money goes on steady state maintenance. There is a series of demands on our money.