Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is still some confusion, particularly regarding the DART underground project. Yesterday, the Minister indicated he remained unconvinced of the business case for the project. That is notwithstanding the fact that previous transport appraisals by the NTA indicated the project would provide exceptionally high value for money based on the traditional cost-benefit analysis. It gave a benefit-to-cost ratio, BCR, of 2.4, with an even higher value for money when the wider economic benefits of the project are taken into account. It gave an appraisal of 4 in that BCR.

In anybody's analysis this is a strong business case. What criteria did the Minister use to provide his own personal analysis which led him to a conclusion that he was unconvinced that it represented value for money? Did he use a different metric or was he just not happy with the NTA's metric? This morning he indicated that his intention, to some extent, is to look at a redesigned project. That is effectively pushing the project down the road. It is a delay and a loss to the development of Dublin city. This morning, the Web Summit chief executive, Mr. Paddy Cosgrave, announced it is being lost to Lisbon for the next three years. These are the kind of decisions that get taken on the back of poor infrastructure and a lack of commitment by the Government to invest in same. We can see the repercussions already from this delay in dealing with critical missing infrastructure which would have a significant benefit to our overall rail network.

See this speech in context