Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate there is a certain administration cost but surely it does not add up to €94 for a single vehicle. Again, the Comptroller and Auditor General pointed out the Department should examine the influences over people in terms of why they tax their vehicle a number of times per year. I would argue affordability is a key issue there and we are penalising people who have affordability issues. It needs to be looked at quite urgently.

I move the high level of spend on projects prior to construction. A number of examples were given in terms of the Foynes rail line, the lack of a business case and the high amount of expenditure incurred. I think there is an article on the DART upgrade mentioning €150 million spent prior to construction. Significant amounts have been spent prior to construction and I would argue a lot of this funding is spent on external consultants carrying out various reports and reviews. Do the officials have any estimate of how much of their overall budget is spent on external consultants?