Mr. Peter Walsh:

Exactly as Mr. Doocey was explaining, the new roads programme was funded to the tune of €1.1 billion in the first five years and €4 billion in the second. We were progressing projects as best we could. There was approval for three projects that got up and running in the past year and half. These were the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge project, the N21 Adare bypass, and the N28 Cork to Ringaskiddy project. It is difficult for anybody to predict when we are going to be in a position to progress. If you take the Cork to Ringaskiddy as an example, there was a judicial review of three years. Once it becomes clear and there is clear Government priority to enter the contract - the Minister approved the approval gate 2 and the Cabinet approved approval gate 3 - then we need to progress that as a priority. We did so but it resulted in the transfer of €40 million of last year's pavement money - the money we use to keep the pavements in good condition - to keep those projects going. This year we are in a similar circumstance. The reason I raise it is that I know the Department is fully aware of it and it knows what the requirements are into the future. As you say, you can suffer that for a year or two but in the longer term you really cannot. We are just trying to make sure people are aware of the consequences of building more asset using what is needed to keep the asset value.