Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

Deputy McConalogue raised this first, followed by Deputies McHugh and McDonald. We have deferred major road projects - that is one of the decisions we made - and the A5 is one of these projects. The political commitment to the A5 remains. Before we made any announcement, I and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport had a meeting with our Northern Ireland equivalents, the Minister for Finance and Personnel and the Minister for the Environment, to explain the situation. We explained that our commitment is ongoing. I have another bilateral meeting with the Minister, Sammy Wilson, in advance of the North-South Ministerial Council on Friday, and it will be formally discussed there. The Taoiseach has indicated the Government's commitment to build this road and assist in its building over time, but in truth, we have to cut our cloth according to our measure now. Bluntly, we do not have £400 million sterling to allocate to this project, and that is understood. The Taoiseach has said we would be prepared to make a contribution of the order of €25 million per annum in the latter stages of the project, in the two years 2014 and 2015, from the unallocated reserve, and that will be done.

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