I want to echo what was stated earlier about the need to take a coherent approach to transport issues, especially in the city of Dublin. The National Transport Authority is currently sponsoring the excavation of a geological survey in Ely Place, Hume Street, in the middle of the road. Some Members may have seen the stockade that has been built there to explore the subsoil structure to finish out the plans for the MetroLink.

The Taoiseach has stated on the record that he is open to the MetroLink's southern leg being diverted either easterly towards Stillorgan serving St. Vincent's Hospital, UCD and so on, or westerly to serve Churchtown, Rathgar and Terenure which is an area that has very little public transport and the roads going to it are congested. It struck me that he says in public that he is open to considering these proposals while, at the same time, the work goes on on the project to create the circumstances where the Luas green line will be cannibalised for part of its length and turned into the southern link of the metro. The work continues unabated and unauthorised. Apparently, it is not Government policy that this should be done because the Taoiseach says he is open to other solutions but huge sums are being spent on building, excavating and exploring a particular route to which the Government is not yet committed.

Who is providing the money?

That is the point that I was coming to. The National Transport Authority spent an awful lot of money on planning various projects without the authority of either the Houses of the Oireachtas or a clear mandate from the public. The Department in which Deputy Ross is Minister has overall charge of transport policy. However, it seems that the National Transport Authority has developed into an agency which follows its own agenda, expends money on planning, consultancy and the like and when it has done its work, presents its conclusions, not on the basis that it is what the public wants but what its engineers want. That does not merely apply to rail and light rail transport and the metro service in Dublin but also to BusConnects. Engineers are creating solutions for Dublin on paper that will not work in practice.

I know that the House has just had the Minister, Deputy Ross, here. He cannot spend all his life in this Chamber and I accept that.

He spends enough time watching it.

I would suggest that we have a debate in the House on the National Transport Authority, who runs it, who is on it, who decides the policy issues with which it deals, who decides on its budget and who is responsible for its budget. We should have a serious debate as to whether it is in fact a semi-autonomous body or whether it is implementing Government policy approved by the Oireachtas in accordance with democratic principles.