Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Brendan Smith for raising this again. I acknowledged earlier the Deputy's interest and question. I fully understand the concerns. As I stated earlier, the right decision was made not to have a two-phase development, and the board took that decision on the development.

There were a couple of delays, which were unfortunate. They were not caused by the Department, but delays are a feature of any project. I understand the Deputy's concern. He has spoken to me about it at private meetings as well as publicly here in the Dáil. I assure him that we will do our utmost to ensure that unnecessary obstacles are not put in the way of this project. There were some shortcomings in the original stage 2b report, which had to be corrected. They were sent back to be corrected. Those have been overcome. While I cannot say how long the process of approval will take, I assure the Deputy that we are determined to push this ahead. We hope to get to a point where we can release this for tender at the earliest possible date.

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