Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I admire the Senator's tenacity in following up on this matter. He is right to do so. Of all State agencies involved in infrastructure provision, TII has been at the forefront. It is probably because TII has delivered so many road projects over many years that it has developed very strong in-house expertise. Of all agencies, TII's numbers or predictions for its projects and plans are the ones I would believe. TII is really able to deliver a road on time and on budget.

My Department has been renamed as the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. That name change is not just a marketing exercise. The Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, has brought a memo to Cabinet to show how there is going to be a change of focus in the Department away from simply finding reasons as to why projects should be re-evaluated and towards making sure that they are delivered.

The Senator is right to follow up on these matters, but I have faith in TII. If he wants to meet afterwards in order to follow up on any specific questions he has about this road scheme or TII, I would be happy to do so.