asked the Minister for Tourism and Transport the estimated cost of the proposed busway from Dundrum to Harcourt Street along the old railway line; the cost of this proposal as a percentage of the total CIE proposals for improving the public transport system in Dublin; and when funds will be provided for the construction of the proposed busway.

I am aware that in a consultancy report commissioned by CIE, entitled the Dublin Rail Rapid Transit Study, the plan recommended by the consultants included, in addition to a rail rapid transit system, a busway from Dundrum along the former Harcourt Street railway line. The estimated cost of the busway as shown in the consultants' report was £3.7 million out of a total cost of £114.4 million, at 1973 prices, for the complete recommended plan.

There are no specific proposals before me for the implementation of this aspect of the consultants' recommendations.

Would the Minister consider favourably an interim proposal which would involve the early construction of the bus route, a comparatively small portion of the overall project, pending a decision on the project as a whole on the rail rapid transit system?

This matter has not come before me as yet. I am not going to commit myself to something until such time as I have had an opportunity of considering all of the proposals in relation to the Dublin rail rapid transit study.