Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I cannot give timelines and I cannot make a commitment or give a response on behalf of the Northern Ireland Executive. It will take however long it takes to get planning permission for the road. I cannot speak on behalf of the Northern Ireland Executive when it comes to its funding commitments. However, as far as the Government is concerned, we have renewed and reiterated our commitment to contribute £25 million in 2015 and the same again in 2016. To date, we have already committed €22 million for a road that has not yet been started, which is a little frustrating.

I hope planning permission is given for this road. I would hate to see us allocate £25 million in 2015 and for that not to be drawn down because of the lack of planning permission. We cannot really make allocations or commitments until the road has planning permission. If this was a house, a factory or a school, we would not be making financial commitments until planning permission was granted. The road does not have planning permission at this stage and if the project does get planning permission, it may look very different from the project we are talking about now.

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