The programme for Government commits to greater all-Ireland co-operation to accelerate recovery and the creation of jobs and to identify new areas of North-South co-operation. The Good Friday Agreement underpins this. Last week, the Taoiseach indicated support for the Narrow Water bridge. Since then, there has been a withdrawal of the offer from the special EU programmes board, SEUPB, for the project. That can be quickly and speedily reversed if the Government can work with all of those who want the project to go ahead. An all-party delegation from Counties Louth and Down met the Deputy First Minister yesterday. The group sought an urgent meeting with the Taoiseach, and I ask the Taoiseach, in keeping with the programme for Government commitment, to meet the group as soon as possible.

I do not object to meeting people. The problem is finding an appropriate time to do it. The Deputy is aware of the position in respect of the Narrow Water bridge. There was a discussion about it prior to the North-South Ministerial Council meeting, at the meeting and afterwards. The agreement was to keep alive the principle of providing a bridge across the inlet. The outcome was that officials would do an analysis of scale of the tenders that came in. We did not have control over the SEUPB. The position is that the Executive and the Government here, along with Newry and Mourne District Council and Louth County Council, support the concept. We will follow through in the best way possible but I cannot sign a blank cheque for it.

This is a follow-up question, which could concern road traffic legislation. There have been hurried meetings in the past few days at Louth County Council and at Stormont. The two key people involved are the Taoiseach and the First Minister. The possibility that the Taoiseach, the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister could meet to address the issue of the bridgeable gap in the funding and to bring the most symbolic and iconic project contemplated-----

Thank you, Deputy.

-----as an invaluable peace dividend to the north east and to the country as a whole is too important to let go. The Taoiseach has a personal interest.

Deputy Kirk was in this Chair. He knows the restrictions under which I operate.

With the agreement of the Taoiseach, if he is prepared to hold a meeting urgently, the SEUPB is prepared to put on hold the decision to withdraw funding, assuming other arrangements can be put in place as quickly as possible.

We discussed this. The First Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive has a process of validation and value for money audits for any infrastructure, including this, and the SEUPB has given its analysis that this is a worthwhile prospect. The problem is that I cannot commit to writing a blank cheque. We must follow through on the analysis of the tenders submitted and determine how we can come to an arrangement so that the Narrow Water bridge can become a reality.