Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It has been beyond talking about for quite a while because, as the Deputy is well aware, we are achieving and moving on this important project. It is exactly the same point he makes each time he comes in here, but he knows perfectly well that all of the timelines that I set and that I indicated in the House when I became Minister in July of last year have been kept. We published the map, but it is not merely a map because it is an assessment of where the commercial sector will deliver and where we will have to go. We stated that we would produce an intervention strategy with all the detail - I hope the Deputy has read it - of what that will incur, including the technical, financial and legal analysis. That all happened on time in the summer.

We also stated that we would have a further period of consultation to ensure that we had those numbers right and that we could go to procurement by the end of this year. To the extent that the Deputy is trying to give the impression that there have been delays, that there has been foot-dragging or that we have missed targets, the point is we have not missed any targets. Everything that he has asked me about in this regard since I became Minister and had the honour of dealing with this issue, through oral parliamentary questions and otherwise, has been kept to and there has been no failure at all.

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