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

I fully understand and appreciate that taxpayers are very annoyed at the way the cost of this project has escalated. I do not doubt that for a second. This is not, however, an issue of taxpayers' money being wasted. In fact, taxpayers' money has not even been spent at this stage. Only about €250 million of the €1.5 billion allocated to this project has been spent. It is not a case of taxpayers' money being wasted but it is a case of the Government and its agents underestimating the cost of this project. We have to accept responsibility and be accountable for that. We cannot take the credit for bringing the last three major projects in on budget, that is the M11 in Wexford, the M17 and M18 in Galway and Luas cross-city-----

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