Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)

Is the Minister in a position to confirm whether there was an underspend of €340 million in respect of capital projects? There is a commitment in the St. Andrews Agreement of 2006 in respect of the A5 Dublin to Derry road. The project relating to this road forms part of the cross-Border initiatives in respect of which the Government stated it would provide 50% of the funding. The road in question would link Dublin to Donegal. North-west Donegal is one of the areas which has been badly affected by recent events and has a major unemployment problem. The death rate on the roads in north-west Donegal is one of the highest in the country. The A5 project is vital in the context of trying to address the matters to which I refer. It would be disastrous if the project were not to proceed. The Minister, Deputy Varadkar, spoke to Mr. Pat Doherty MLA at some stage. He gave some form of a commitment in a written reply on 20 September 2011, stating "in the context of the March 2007 agreement between the Irish and British Governments on a funding package to support the restored Northern Ireland Executive, the Irish Government made a commitment to provide funding for a roads investment package for Northern Ireland to contribute to the upgrading of the A5 road from Aughnacloy to Derry/Londonderry to dual-carriageway status." In the context of what is being rolled out in the next couple of days, will the Minister be able to make an announcement on this or will the Government scrap another commitment given to the people?

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