Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 29 June 2016

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (Revised)

9:00 am

Photo of Shane RossShane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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Deputy Troy made a fair point when he raised the issue of whether we should borrow money. We already are in various areas. We have borrowed €150 million already to fund the Luas cross-city project, which is a fair amount. The Department is quite aggressive and quite happy to do that.

It is also looking to the European Investment Bank, EIB, in respect of the DART underground project. I do not think we are lacking in that area. One has to be careful when borrowing money for companies which are not in a very good state. Iarnród Éireann already has a loan problem and might not be able to borrow any more but it is something we are aggressively pursuing. We are not frightened to borrow large sums if a project merits it.