Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

Yes. Yet that was a short-term alleviating measure, which in one respect will become redundant once the main N4-N6 motorway is built. It is possible to justify the apparent additional cost of those interim bypasses by completing them in the short term. The cost offset against the legal fees, the delays and the opportunity cost associated with those delays would be more than sufficient to justify the additional net expenditure.

We want the Minister not to press his amendment. The Whip's office must have been pretty stretched for imagination if this was all it could come up with today. We do not dispute the Government's roads programme, the expenditure or the necessity to take action. We are talking about a specific problem that has been encountered and not for the first time. This problem seems in part to reveal an inability within the NRA to recognise that sometimes the longest way home is the quickest way to get there. Sometimes the longest route is the shortest route.

If the Government persists with ratification of the tenders and the commitment to contract then we know from Carrickmines, Wood Quay, Luggala, Mullaghmore and Mutton Island in Galway that it will not stop here. Not just Irish citizens but also European citizens, aware that the European heritage lying beneath the soil in County Meath will be damaged, if not destroyed, by this intemperate and precipitate action, will use the institutions of the courts at national and European level and the delays the Minister dreads will become real. The costs that he does not want to contemplate will be higher than he could measure and the dissatisfaction among commuters, not to mention businesses and the local community, with the existing inadequate system of transport will get worse in the short term rather than better.

What is involved in accepting our proposal — a loss of face? I do not believe any Fianna Fáil Minister would suggest that preserving the Celtic heritage of the country could be considered a loss of face.

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