Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have not given any indication to anybody, public or private, beyond close Government colleagues regarding what the recommendation will be. When I have my recommendation to take to Cabinet, I will look for Government approval and at that point I will make an announcement and be subject to questioning by Deputy Timmy Dooley and other Members of the Dáil on it.

On two elements of the point the Deputy made earlier, the so-called bad news of yesterday, if this project were to happen in its current format it would involve €4 billion worth of taxpayers’ money. Not only would it be the largest transport project ever undertaken in the history of the State, by some order of magnitude it would be the largest project our country has ever undertaken. The reality is that the business case that informed the project and the assumptions underpinning it relate to a decade ago. I have a responsibility to look at the business case in the light of where we are now to make sure that we have a project that is affordable and of the right scale to meet what we now know the economy will look like in a decade’s time.

If I may, I will offer one point to the Deputy in relation to his description of metro projects. A key part of metro projects, as they are done elsewhere across the world, is that they are capable of being integrated with existing land transport networks. I have always made clear that would be crucial in terms of any project I would take to Cabinet.

See this speech in context