Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Taoiseach said it would be very dumb indeed to go to the market place seeking a ballpark figure. I remind him that the second phase of the M50 upgrade is a PPP project and the Government and the Minister for Transport have already announced it will come in at between €600 million and €700 million. That is an example of a major PPP project where the Government has given its ballpark figure, yet we are now asked to commit the entire nation to the biggest infrastructural project in the history of the country which the vast majority of the people will agree with intuitively but the Taoiseach will not tell the House the figure the RPA has arrived at, even in global terms. I shall ask the Taoiseach again. Does he agree that the M50 upgrade is a PPP project? Does he agree that the Government has already published a figure in respect of that? Will he commit himself to telling the nation the assessed figure? Is it €1 billion, €5 billion or €15 billion because we will be paying for this until 2040? If that man's record over there is anything to go by, this too will go down in flames.

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