Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy has made the case for us. Whether the figure is €34.1 billion, €70 billion or €1 million, the principle is the same. The Deputy referred to the building of a house. Of course a person would have an estimated price from a surveyor, but the person would not indicate to all those invited to tender the price suggested by the surveyor. It is the same here. It is not a question of defending the Minister, the Department or the Government. It is prudent.

With regard to any of the projects in Transport 21, a project is first identified by one of the agencies. It will carry out a preliminary appraisal of the project. This would be a study of feasibility as to whether it is a runner, the funds required, the number of passengers, if the project would be a relief on roads and if it would be economically viable. If that passes the litmus test, a full cost analysis is carried out, with a full appraisal of projects over €30 million. The project would be totally scrutinised.

When we are aware of the estimated costs, I genuinely believe it would not be prudent or in the best interests of the Irish taxpayer to flag, for all and sundry interested in submitting a tender, a benchmark. We are out there to get the best value for money. That is the way forward.

I can confirm that we must work under the Department of Finance guidelines for the appraisal and management of the capital expenditure and the Department of Finance circular of January 2006 on value for money. We are going about it in the right way. Transport 21 is not in itself a project for which we can have a cost benefit analysis. Transport 21 is the financial framework, as opposed to a strategy. It represents the Government's decision on the amount of resources to be invested in development. It is a forward-thinking ten-year plan, in sharp contrast to yearly plans we all pursued in the past.

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