Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail)

——but I will not get into it. I will not swipe back with predictable negativity by suggesting it was a bad deal. It was a very good deal for the State at the time. The Minister might correct my figures but I understand the cost of €38 million amounted to approximately one third of what the country was spending at the time on its entire road programme. It is ridiculous to suggest this was a bad deal. In fact, for five or six years until 1995 it was a good deal. The numbers were short of the projections that NTR had made for 1991, 1992 and 1993 and the company was losing money and under financial pressure. Not until the economic policies of this and other Fianna Fáil-led Governments did the current situation arise. I do not suggest it was all our doing. International changes allowed us to reap the benefits of our policies but it is wrong to suggest this was a cosy deal whereby Fianna Fáil looked after NTR because the facts belie that suggestion. A legally binding agreement was negotiated by all the parties at the time and it provided very good value for money for the State.

It is easy to look back and, with the wisdom of hindsight, suggest it should have been done differently. Now it will be done differently and the approach the Minister is taking is correct for that purpose. Local authorities were in such peril that they had to turn off street lights. In many areas, it seemed that lights had blown but that represented a decision by councils to remove every second bulb.