Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

As I said, we never discuss what goes on at Cabinet committee meetings other than by indicating the fact that they have taken place and what they broadly cover. To be helpful to the Deputy, I will mention that €6.4 billion is being spent under the capital investment programme this year - a significant amount, which represents an estimated 80,000 jobs in a range of areas including education, with school building throughout the country.

With regard to transport, under Transport 21 the inter-urban motorway system will be completed by the end of the year. It is envisaged that there will also be significant investment in public transport this year. At this stage of Transport 21, we are moving towards significant investment in public transport as a component of the transport spend, and this will increase over the coming years. The projects mentioned by the Deputy are proceeding through the various preparatory stages and will be dealt with in due course.

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