Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

We will move on shortly to our second engagement as part of this module, which is with TII. I apologise for the time constraints. We could talk about this all day. I do not think this will be the last hearing we will have on it. We as legislators and policymakers will take away an awful lot from today. I will take away a number of things. There is an inconsistency of approach with regard to certain project teams and certain local authorities. Some projects are working well, while others are working not so well. There is an impact on property rights and livelihoods. Mental health was not mentioned today but I can only imagine the impact on people's mental health. It is important to acknowledge this.

In terms of the code of practice, the threat of CPO at the final stage and the default final position, I have researched it and there are steps such as mediation but they are not in relation to the route. They are in relation to compensation. I do not know whether there is an area to be explored with regard to an additional step of arbitration, not in the context of financial compensation but in terms of alternative routes where there are real challenges. The committee has a lot of takeaways.

I thank all of the witnesses. I reiterate my apologies for being so time constrained. We have to finish the meeting at 12 noon. It is important that we now engage with TII. We will have robust engagement with it between now and 12 noon. I thank the individuals in the Public Gallery. I presume all of them are stakeholders in this. I thank everybody. I also thank the members for respecting the time constraints. We will conclude this particular section and we will invite in Transport Infrastructure Ireland. I acknowledge that Deputies Aird and Conway-Walsh are present but I could not give them time in this slot. They may have time to engage with TII.