Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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We need to build confidence in this project. In large parts of north Dublin, people do not believe this project will ever be completed when, in reality, we are getting to a point where the rubber will start to hit the road or whatever the equivalent rail analogy is. It is important that we have confidence around what money will be spent going forward. I believe a subheading would assist this committee and others in monitoring it.

Regarding projects like BusConnects, it can be really difficult for us to drill down into whether that is actually having an impact on the ground. I will give an example. I acknowledge I intended to raise the latest phase 7 in my own area today. NTA officials were good enough to meet me yesterday on the issue so I do not intend to take up time in the meeting to do that. However, it is an example of how it can be difficult to find out whether there is additionality being funded. Is this a replacement of services? Are new services being given to the NTA and on to Dublin Bus? The failure to have that level of detail in the accounts can make it difficult for us as public representatives to monitor what value we should be getting.