Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

Cost benefit analyses are carried out as projects progress through planning so that the impact of cost increases is taken into account and evaluated before binding contracts are made. It should also be noted that road construction contracts are subject to an open competitive tendering process that ensures that projects are competitively priced. In addition, a number of independent evaluations such as a report by Fitzpatrick Associates in 2002 have all acknowledged that the national roads programme is, in general, well managed.

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