Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)

I know the Minister does not have available the cost benefit analysis as of yet and I appreciate the fact it will be made available. If a cost benefit analysis is done on any public service infrastructure in a county such as Donegal or Kerry, the more one moves away from the core obviously it will cost the State more and if one examines everything from education to public servants and other Government services of course it will show that it will cost the State. This is why we subsidise flights to Carrickfinn and have a public service obligation arrangement for Derry city airport. We must have these arrangements. The argument that there is no socio-economic impact is not good enough. The president of Letterkenny chamber of commerce strongly articulated that these measures will impact on the amount of money spent locally, for example. In the past eight years, €1.3 million has been invested in the barracks at Lifford and Rockhill. Will the Minister examine the possibility of a compromise solution? I realise this has been debated within the Minister's own party. Is there not a compromise solution? Two stations have been cherry-picked in north Donegal, which is a unique area. Is there not a compromise solution that might involve either one or the other station, because it is affecting the area on a socio-economic basis? There are also security issues which I will raise at a later date.

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