Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It only refers to Northern Ireland from our perspective. Even when it refers to both ways, it is between Northern Ireland and Britain; it is alignment between Northern Ireland and the European Union, of which Ireland is part, and alignment between Northern Ireland and Britain. It is a reference to Northern Ireland and not the entire United Kingdom.

On the Luas cross city project, it is absolutely the case that there are problems causing increased congestion on some days in Dublin, worsening bus times. It will require some changes, such as the re-routing of buses, which is now under consideration. There will possibly be re-routing of taxis as well. There will be signal changes and the Luas service will be made more frequent, with longer carriages. Much of that is under way. It is a long time since I was Minister with responsibility for transport but I know the project very well and I am really glad it has proceeded and is up and running. It happened on time and within budget. Certainly, the scale of the traffic problems that have arisen were not projected at the time, but it was projected that there would need to be changes to bus routes. Some of that has been done and more will need to be done.

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