Mr. Peter Walsh:

It is a project that I was involved in over the years as inspector, regional manager and now as CEO. I know the frustration that is associated with it. We have had planning approval twice. We got planning approval and it was appealed through the High Court and the Supreme Court to the European court, which eventually decided that any impact on the qualifying interests of a special area of conservation, SAC, must be regarded as such that you could not get planning approval. With the Department's agreement, we then got up and running again with it. It is a different design the second time around. We sought to have more of a public transport element and to recognise the need to support many of the significant jobs in Galway city and release traffic from the city centre. We got planning approval for that, which was the subject of judicial reviews, which were eventually quashed and it was remitted to the board. Given the delay, we had to do all of the environmental surveys and studies again. They have now been submitted and the board has decided that they should be the subject of public consultation.

If I was to venture a guess about what hoops we need to go through, I would probably be wrong, because so far, we have believed that we have cleared every hurdle that was put in front of us and we are still not there. I am not sure I can answer. We have prepared, at some risk and with agreement, to move to the procurement phase, when and if it is approved and we can proceed. There is only a certain amount you can do because it could be a waste if you do not get planning approval.