Ms Oonagh McPhillips:

There are so many projects on the go at any one time. We are trying to do is make sure the projects that are ready for the road or “shovel ready”, as the old expression goes, get going as fast as they can. The legal aspects of it, and I know the Deputy will appreciate this, are important. We have to get the due diligence right with contracts. There can be a frustration with how long that takes. Contracts are important and the devil is in the detail, so it is necessary to go through that.

In terms of us doing a review of the whole capital piece, what we did in preparation for the national development plan, NDP, was look across the whole sector to see what the needs were. Then we looked at what budget we would get and what we could do. However, we rely on the OPW a lot in relation to those matters.