Mr. Kenneth Jordan:

While I know the point was made last year, I will again say that, if there are specific indicators the committee feels need to go in, it should come to us and we will try to work through that process. Another issue on the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform side is the fact that targets are often set a couple of years or even three years in advance. You are then reporting on targets that may not be appropriate. That is what happened with the RRDF. The target was set before the Covid pandemic and we were left reporting on a target that we knew was not achievable. There are some funny issues there.

On the point Deputy Ó Cuív made, I believe the issue is twofold. As a Department, we are doing a really good job on the case study and communication elements, demonstrating the impact of individual projects on the ground and generating interest in the schemes. However, we ultimately still need to know whether we are delivering the number of projects we need to deliver each year. On transport services to the islands, it is my understanding that public sentiment towards them has generally improved a lot over recent years. However, what is equally important is that the trend in passenger numbers is moving in the right direction. If the trend in passenger numbers is going down, something is up. Perhaps the value of looking at the year 2023 is not that substantial but, over time, having these numbers is of definite value in determining whether we are moving in the right direction in the longer term.