Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

On the same point, the Minister almost threw a wobbler here at the end of questions that day. It seemed as if he had been left in the dark by CIE. That is certainly the impression he gave us, and the House. How does that tally with the answer he gave to Deputy O'Dowd?

The Minister gave us some information but the public expected that metro north with the Railway Procurement Agency, RPA, and an interconnector with Irish Rail would go in tandem, yet we now find that metro north is much further down the road, so to speak, than the interconnector. Has the Minister done any analysis as to the reason that should be the case? The Minister then tells us that for environmental reasons they will use two boring machines rather than four but this would appear to be a significant reason for the delay. How will we handle this major project if it is not done in tandem with metro north? In terms of the stations - St. Stephen's Green and so on - we have shared facilities. The RPA is building a box, as it calls it, for the interconnector but it seems to be haphazard. Has the Minister confidence in Irish Rail that it can deliver this major project?

On the big dig, we heard about the Broombridge line this morning. The statue of Daniel O'Connell, our great liberator, is due to be removed from O'Connell Street in the near future to facilitate these works. Can the Minister give us an updated report now from the big dig committee? What is the position regarding the big dig committee? It appears that, because of the slowness of the interconnector, we may be getting into a position where we will have chaos in the centre of Dublin for over a decade rather than a smart building programme over three or four years, which would get it done quickly. Incidentally, I understand there is no chance of having metro north completed by the anniversary of the seminal event in 1916 which led to the foundation of our State. Work will be ongoing on it when, hopefully, we will all be present outside the GPO for that ceremony. It all seems very vague. The Minister appeared to be flabbergasted that day and I wonder what happened? What did they do to him?

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