Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)

The Minister referred to 2005, when he reduced the cost of projects which would require a cost-benefit analysis from €50 million to €30 million. The Minister said the various agencies are producing the cost-benefit analyses and they are being sent to his Department. It is unfortunate that he will not allow them to be published. He said they might contain commercially sensitive information. However, will he allow the publication of any of these cost-benefit analyses retrospectively? Is it not important from a public perspective point of view and for public confidence that the Department is spending money wisely?

The recently announced Transport 21 plan will cost approximately €34 billion and the national development plan will cost €184 billion. There are also various local announcements that projects will go ahead but there is no mention of the cost-benefit analysis that will be required for each of those projects. Perhaps the Minister would examine the situation in New Zealand, which has a very open system. In New Zealand all these information documents are published and they are even available on the worldwide web. One can see the cost-benefit analyses for all the projects. It does not seem to cause damage in New Zealand and does not appear to cause the problem cited by the Minister with regard to commercial information being seen by the opposition. We must take the road of being more open and honest with the public by publishing these cost-benefit analyses.

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