Mr. Gerard Brady:

We have seen projects, particularly road projects but also other projects, that have stalled mid-year, effectively because the agency in charge of them has to wait for another budget cycle to come around, or for a Supplementary Estimate, to get the money to finish the projects. Months of the project's life cycle are wasted while waiting for the money to come through. Many projects are waiting to get to the next stage. Our view is that if we decide to do a project in the national development plan, the bodies that need funding to deliver the project should be given the funding for the whole project or a lot of the project, rather than one step at that time, making people go back through hoops they have already covered. The feedback from agencies delivering projects is that they lose months and months waiting for the decisions on projects to be made again. It becomes more expensive over time. It is bad for the Exchequer.