Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That legislation does not fall within my remit but it will be published next month. That is no constraint. We have the agreement of Government to expend the money. We do not need the new legislation to allocate the funding and it has not been a constraint for me in pushing co-funding projects. That is not an issue.

Reference was made to non-PPP projects. There can be frustrations. For example, one project - I realise it is a PPP project - involves school bundles. Two of the planning applications were refused and that knocked things back and we had to start again. We were keen to have the children's hospital up-and-running by now but An Bord Pleanála made a decision on that. Then, we had to change the site and now it will take longer but it will be completed by 2018. We need to have construction started next year.

There is a frustration with these big projects. It takes time for the design, they must have careful planning, they must have the funding in place and they must have local community assent. That is the way we have. These things can sometimes cause difficulties. Even relatively small projects are faced with local opposition sometimes and those involved have to be dealt with, assuaged and encouraged, and the real concerns have to be addressed.

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