Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister of State's candour. However, I get suspicious at times like this because hidden within the answer is a potential code to the effect that it will be decided in the interest of public spending, inflation etc. Some of those issues can also impact on inflation in a positive way from the point of view of the Government. There might be a possibility of identifying them with a view to picking out the ones that are most fundamental and necessary in the shortest possible time and ensuring there are no blockages like the Ceann Comhairle and I had in our county some years ago when a tiny bird or animal impacted on the Newbridge bypass and cost €25 million. It achieved nothing that I could see because he was only a small guy called the vertigo inquisitor. I do not know what that sounds like but I can only tell the Minister of State that I was on the local authority at the time and it caused some eyeballs to be raised, as the Ceann Comhairle well knows.

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