Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

-----in some element of public infrastructure, as we proposed last night. The Minister is well up on financial affairs. He should talk to his colleague, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, as the idea of throwing €3 billion into paying down debt at a time when we are more than exceeding our debt schedules does not make sense.

We need orbital routes. One cannot travel from Swords to Blanchardstown or from Blanchardstown to Tallaght or places in between using public transport. That needs to be addressed.

The Minister must publish the cost-benefit analysis. Dáil committees, such as the Committee on Budgetary Oversight, cannot get cost-benefit analyses. Given the rural bias of the Government, I fear at times that we will have the DART to Dingle before we have the DART to Maynooth or Skerries, Rush and other places on the north side. A significant amount can be done with relatively small quantities of money to make lasting improvements. Please, let us have green buses as well.

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