Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

It was quite the reverse. They tried to persuade me that instead of going ahead with the big project, I might be wiser to go ahead with the smaller one. This was a case where I said "No", that I wanted to go ahead with the big project. In effect, Deputy Rabbitte and the Nowlan family came to my aid by creating a situation in which we could do both. In case it is thought that hard-hearted officials were prevailed on by a mean-minded Minister, that was not so — in fact, it was the reverse.