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

Very simply, the contract for the research survey was awarded to Behaviour & Attitudes but we decided not to continue and not to do it because, quite frankly, there are many other priorities in the Department and it had become politicised. Initially, this was seen as a genuine effort to track public perceptions on public services, the information received from the Government and the performance of the Government and the public sector. It was a genuine project but it got caught up in the party political back and forth we have had in the Chamber. Everyone thought there was no point in going ahead in that context. Perhaps a future Government, perhaps even involving people here, might see the value of it and decide to go with it. It would have been misrepresented and for those reasons it was judged best not to do it. It was not done and will not be done.

Deputy Howlin asked about the €1.3 million. I imagine it was all from the first half of 2018 when the strategic communications unit was operating. At that time, communication campaigns were being centrally managed. They are not any more. The communications on Project Ireland 2040 are now done through the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in the way they were done in the past. The national development plan was done through the old Department of Finance.

What was launched was not promises for the future, it was a one year report on what had already been achieved in the years since Project Ireland 2040 was launched. It included road projects, such as the fact the N4 and the western distributor road projects in Sligo that are now being built.

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