Results 3,941-3,960 of 5,632 for speaker:Paul McAuliffe

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: How much was spent on the previous metro north, as it was then called?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Mr. Walsh can imagine how a lot of people are very alarmed that after €88 million we do not have a metro and that a figure far north of that compounds that frustration. Can he understand that frustration?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I will let Mr. Walsh answer his own point. In what way? Does he not believe that after €88 million has been spent and when we stand up and ask questions in the Dáil of Ministers that we are not told when that project will be delivered?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: The question is does he recognise that people are frustrated after spending €88 million and having no timeline.

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Is it reasonable for people to be frustrated by that?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: No, but Mr. Walsh can comment on the delivery of the project.

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: In 2018, TII published a timeline for the delivery of the metro. Let us look at that timeline. TII stated that in quarter 4 of 2017 the alignment options study identification on an emerging preferred route would be published. Did TII meet that target?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Quarter 4, 2017.

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: In quarter 1 of 2018, the emerging preferred route public consultation was due to take place. That was also missed as a result of missing the earlier deadline. Would that be fair to say?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: In 2019, before Covid, the railway order application was due to be made to An Bord Pleanála.

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I will get to that as well. Before Covid and before there were any possible delays arising from Covid, regarding the metro north which was essentially a year or so after the timeline was published, TII fell at the first goal. When TII gave the deadline of quarter 3 of 2019 for the railway procurement order and the 2027 operation date, why did TII publish those two dates and did it believe...

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: The decision to now not provide an operation date - which seems to be the policy of both TII and the NTA and, to some degree, of Government Ministers - why has that changed? Why was it okay to publish an operation date in 2018 and now TII is not willing to publish an operation date?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Was TII not aware of those challenges in 2018?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I will go back to this point. Why was it okay to publish a timeline in 2018 with an operation date in 2027 and it is not okay to do so now? Mr. Walsh said that TII wanted to reflect the aspirations of the NDP. Is that code for there being pressure on TII to deliver a deadline?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: There is question that has to be asked. TII published the deadline in 2018 and immediately failed to deliver on those timelines. Was it ever a realistic timeline or was it not resourced to the point where TII could deliver within that deadline?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I can now see why there would be reticence to publish a new operation deadline because then TII would only get questions at the next Committee of Public Accounts meeting and thereafter. Unfortunately, TII leaves us in a very difficult position. By not publishing any deadline, there is no way to hold project to account.

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Yes, that would be great.

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Of course. If there is no judicial review, which would be the most optimistic version, when would the next stage commence?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I had to sit the leaving certificate but I am still struggling with the numbers, which is not Mr. Walsh's fault but my fault. With an optimistic version, we are talking about 2024 to come out of planning and 2026 to 2027 to come out of procurement. It would then take another nine years, at most, so we are talking about 2035 for an operational date. Is that a ballpark date given that it...

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: It is hugely frustrating. The Government has not made a decision to delay this project by ten years but it looks like it will be delayed by ten years. This comes to the very core of these projects. Across north Dublin people have completely lost faith in the metro north project. The reason is that this saga has been going on for 20 years. The decision is out of the hands of TII because...