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

For the Limerick tunnel, some €5.2 million was paid in 2013, with €2.659 million being paid for the M3. The amount is increasing. The Deputy is right in that this was a bad deal. Not only did the deal not take account of the possibility of a downturn but it assumed the economy and therefore traffic would continue to grow forever. Much capital development in Ireland was done on that basis and there has been much cost for infrastructure we possibly did not need.

I considered the possibility of renegotiation but came down against it for two reasons. First, I have nothing to offer and in any negotiation there must something offered in order to get something in return. I have nothing I want to give the companies in question. I spoke to my Portuguese colleague and what has happened there is quite different. The country had a system of shadow tolls, with the Portuguese Government paying the toll for the driver. As part of the renegotiation, new tolling points were introduced but I have decided against that. I do not intend to introduce any new tolling points anywhere in the country during my term of office. It was the Portuguese solution but I do not favour it.

There is another important point. I am trying to get private sector funders to invest in public-private partnerships again. I was very keen to initiate the projects at Newlands Cross - which the Deputy knows very well - and Rathnew going and they have been started. I am keen to get the Gort to Tuam route started in the next few months. The one way to ensure this cannot happen is to try to break deals already made with similar or the same companies. That would destroy confidence in the public-private partnership process and funding will not come if funders are concerned that the Government will try to change a deal in five years. If funding is received in such a case, there will be a premium because companies will factor in the risk.

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