Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister's reply but, given that he has provided for the ex-ante evaluation of projects costing more than €30 million, does he agree that PPARS as it was originally envisaged would not have been evaluated under that rule? Punchestown would not have been evaluated, even though it was a notorious project and cost a great deal of State money. E-voting as it was initially brought forward would not have been subject to ex-ante evaluation. The Minister is closing the door on some horses but a lot of the little money wasting ponies will escape these provisions.

Has the Minister assigned individuals to specific capital projects and can he provide us with a published list of who has been assigned to which project, so that everyone can know where responsibility lies?

The Minister announced this new programme almost six months ago. Can he now provide the performance table for Departments which he promised, if only for the first quarter of this scheme? The scheme will only make an impact if it is clear that the Minister is serious about it and if we are sure that performance is acceptable.

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