Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I am pleased to confirm there is.

I am a great advocate of regionalism. I support the notion that we must ensure there are access points into the regions. I met with Northern Ireland's finance Minister, Mr. Sammy Wilson, to discuss the matter in advance of our announcement on the A5 project. We will have a bilateral meeting on Friday in advance of the full North-South Ministerial Council meeting in Armagh. Dialogue is ongoing in that regard. There is an understanding that this may be done on a phased basis and that some bottlenecks are more critical than others. To clarify, I stated incorrectly that the €25 million allocation is for 2014 and 2015; in fact, it is for 2015 and 2016. I wish it could be more and that we had the wherewithal to proceed with that project and with others, including metro north. However, the funding is not available within the envelope with which I have been charged with crafting an expenditure pattern on the capital side.

Deputy Donnelly asked about cost benefit analyses and whether the plan that has been announced is a fait accompli. There is a rationale behind the decisions we have made and every single project has been subjected to voluminous analysis. I cannot provide all of that information to the Deputy because it is a matter for each line Department. It is certainly feasible that a committee of the House might choose to analyse the projects that have been frontloaded and deferred in specific Departments and perhaps come up with an argument against the choices the Government has made. I will send the Deputy a note on the principles underlying those decisions.

The plan is not a fait accompli, but it represents the Government's decision in terms of the envelope of expenditure. To put it bluntly, our economic situation and that of our European partners is changing so rapidly that nobody would be foolish enough to say with certainty that a five-year plan will be implemented without change. We may well amend some of the details of the plan, hopefully to add more to it in the mid-term review rather than having to finish it earlier and cancel certain initiatives.

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