Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

If the Government broke the public spending code, or the infrastructure guidelines in this case, or decided to spend money without doing a proper analysis and proper business case, you guys would rightly be down at the public accounts committee castigating the Government. The Government is committed to working with all stakeholders to progress this project when the business case is received and reviewed.

We recognise we are an island nation. We have a dispersed population and an open economy. We need good connectivity with the rest of the world within and outside the country. We are an exporting country. We know that we need all this, but the infrastructure guidelines set out the value-for-money guidelines for the evaluation, planning and management of public investment projects. This applies to all public bodies. This is not just a Waterford thing. All public bodies and everybody in receipt of Exchequer capital funding are required to comply with this. That is why the public accounts committee is there, to hold the Government to account on items such as this. Some may say private investment is there so the State does not need to look as closely, but the State has a different role from that of private investors. We are happy to work with them but we have different functions and different objectives. The State wants its investment protected also. There are also state aid rules from the European Union.

At the meeting on 2 July I mentioned, the airport authorities were advised that the Department of Transport will continue to work with them on the development of the business case, which will be prioritised within the Department once it is received. Any potential support will be considered then, when the necessary appraisal is done under the infrastructure guidelines.

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