A5 WTC (New Road from Aughnacloy to Derry)

[Nally Stand]

Whilst i would also be in favour of the new road, any connection to the tragic incident and those who opposed the new road going through their land is idiotic in the extreme.

Nothing like hitting the hysteria button.   

Sympathies to those invoved in this tragic accident by the way

I don't think it is tbh though I think he was talking more about Danny Kennedy. Everyone who uses that road knows that todays tragic events won't be the last. But hey, why would you want to fix a busy death trap in the neglected west when you can build roads at Greenisland and Ballymoney instead.

Lads the one at Greenisland/Carrick is well over due in fairness, the amount of commuters to Belfast along that stretch is brutal. Granted there are many other ones which would benefit a lot of rural communities to. The infrastructure is crap in the north.

I can appreciate that MR but the A5 project had already begun. Almost 100Million had been spent. Land had been acquired and all was in place . Then when the Unionists discovered that it was being called ''the united Ireland Highway'' they had to stop it at all costs. The reason they used to get it stopped was a pile of environmental bullsh1t IMO. I am also disgusted at the local politicians who seemed to roll over and allow this to happen. These are the clowns that run our country. It makes me sick and it is costing lives.

People around here feel totally let down and days like today prove that we have been.

In fairness here I don't think the blame can be placed on the NI politicians rather it can be placed on the Roads Service engineers and legal team for the balls up they made in firstly neglecting to carry out the necessary environmental studies and then failing to interpret the legal position correctly by going ahead with the Omagh Ballygawley section. The southern Government must also shoulder some of the blame by reneging on its commitment to contribute to the costs of the project

4 of the 5 most deaths on this road in the last 2 years  have been on the Strabane - Omagh section which was dropped due to lack of Southern finance.

We have enough to do doing looking after our own affairs, thanks.

Yes why should the Dublin government, led by the self titled "All-Ireland Party" help fund a road of benefit to the people of Donegal, if there's a chance it might also help save nordie lives? And it's not as if they "as part of the UK /RoI Government endorsement of the St. Andrews Agreement, agreed to provide some £400 million to the route upgrade" and which they "confirmed at the North South Ministerial Council" http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/index/media-centre/news-departments/news-dfp/news-archives-dfp-nov-2011/news-dfp-091111-finance-minister-responds.htm. And sure, what odds the countless lives it would save, as long as Tubberman's "own affairs" are looked after by ensuring there'll be no more of this whole "North/South co-operation" malarkey that the bloody GFA yapped on about, eh? I know I kept asking this earlier in the thread and nobody could answer me, but sure, why not ask again...how can a government claim in May 2011 that they can afford their agreed contribution to the new road, then after realising in November that due to "an accounting error" they are €3.6bn better off than they thought, then decide they can't afford the road after all?

[Tubberman]

Whilst i would also be in favour of the new road, any connection to the tragic incident and those who opposed the new road going through their land is idiotic in the extreme.

Nothing like hitting the hysteria button.   

Sympathies to those invoved in this tragic accident by the way

I don't think it is tbh though I think he was talking more about Danny Kennedy. Everyone who uses that road knows that todays tragic events won't be the last. But hey, why would you want to fix a busy death trap in the neglected west when you can build roads at Greenisland and Ballymoney instead.

Lads the one at Greenisland/Carrick is well over due in fairness, the amount of commuters to Belfast along that stretch is brutal. Granted there are many other ones which would benefit a lot of rural communities to. The infrastructure is crap in the north.

I can appreciate that MR but the A5 project had already begun. Almost 100Million had been spent. Land had been acquired and all was in place . Then when the Unionists discovered that it was being called ''the united Ireland Highway'' they had to stop it at all costs. The reason they used to get it stopped was a pile of environmental bullsh1t IMO. I am also disgusted at the local politicians who seemed to roll over and allow this to happen. These are the clowns that run our country. It makes me sick and it is costing lives.

People around here feel totally let down and days like today prove that we have been.

In fairness here I don't think the blame can be placed on the NI politicians rather it can be placed on the Roads Service engineers and legal team for the balls up they made in firstly neglecting to carry out the necessary environmental studies and then failing to interpret the legal position correctly by going ahead with the Omagh Ballygawley section. The southern Government must also shoulder some of the blame by reneging on its commitment to contribute to the costs of the project

4 of the 5 most deaths on this road in the last 2 years  have been on the Strabane - Omagh section which was dropped due to lack of Southern finance.

We have enough to do doing looking after our own affairs, thanks.

Yes why should the Dublin government, led by the self titled "All-Ireland Party" help fund a road of benefit to the people of Donegal, if there's a chance it might also help save nordie lives? And it's not as if they "as part of the UK /RoI Government endorsement of the St. Andrews Agreement, agreed to provide some £400 million to the route upgrade" and which they "confirmed at the North South Ministerial Council" http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/index/media-centre/news-departments/news-dfp/news-archives-dfp-nov-2011/news-dfp-091111-finance-minister-responds.htm. And sure, what odds the countless lives it would save, as long as Tubberman's "own affairs" are looked after by ensuring there'll be no more of this whole "North/South co-operation" malarkey that the bloody GFA yapped on about, eh? I know I kept asking this earlier in the thread and nobody could answer me, but sure, why not ask again...how can a government claim in May 2011 that they can afford their agreed contribution to the new road, then after realising in November that due to "an accounting error" they are €3.6bn better off than they thought, then decide they can't afford the road after all?

We don't gots the moneys! The taxpayers are being crucified, and those taxes need to go into things like healthcare, education, social welfare, employment growth initiatives etc
It would not go down well with the public at all if our taxes went to pay for a road that would mostly benefit people who don't pay taxes here!

[Nally Stand]

Whilst i would also be in favour of the new road, any connection to the tragic incident and those who opposed the new road going through their land is idiotic in the extreme.

Nothing like hitting the hysteria button.   

Sympathies to those invoved in this tragic accident by the way

I don't think it is tbh though I think he was talking more about Danny Kennedy. Everyone who uses that road knows that todays tragic events won't be the last. But hey, why would you want to fix a busy death trap in the neglected west when you can build roads at Greenisland and Ballymoney instead.

Lads the one at Greenisland/Carrick is well over due in fairness, the amount of commuters to Belfast along that stretch is brutal. Granted there are many other ones which would benefit a lot of rural communities to. The infrastructure is crap in the north.

I can appreciate that MR but the A5 project had already begun. Almost 100Million had been spent. Land had been acquired and all was in place . Then when the Unionists discovered that it was being called ''the united Ireland Highway'' they had to stop it at all costs. The reason they used to get it stopped was a pile of environmental bullsh1t IMO. I am also disgusted at the local politicians who seemed to roll over and allow this to happen. These are the clowns that run our country. It makes me sick and it is costing lives.

People around here feel totally let down and days like today prove that we have been.

In fairness here I don't think the blame can be placed on the NI politicians rather it can be placed on the Roads Service engineers and legal team for the balls up they made in firstly neglecting to carry out the necessary environmental studies and then failing to interpret the legal position correctly by going ahead with the Omagh Ballygawley section. The southern Government must also shoulder some of the blame by reneging on its commitment to contribute to the costs of the project

4 of the 5 most deaths on this road in the last 2 years  have been on the Strabane - Omagh section which was dropped due to lack of Southern finance.

We have enough to do doing looking after our own affairs, thanks.

Yes why should the Dublin government, led by the self titled "All-Ireland Party" help fund a road of benefit to the people of Donegal, if there's a chance it might also help save nordie lives? And it's not as if they "as part of the UK /RoI Government endorsement of the St. Andrews Agreement, agreed to provide some £400 million to the route upgrade" and which they "confirmed at the North South Ministerial Council" http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/index/media-centre/news-departments/news-dfp/news-archives-dfp-nov-2011/news-dfp-091111-finance-minister-responds.htm. And sure, what odds the countless lives it would save, as long as Tubberman's "own affairs" are looked after by ensuring there'll be no more of this whole "North/South co-operation" malarkey that the bloody GFA yapped on about, eh? I know I kept asking this earlier in the thread and nobody could answer me, but sure, why not ask again...how can a government claim in May 2011 that they can afford their agreed contribution to the new road, then after realising in November that due to "an accounting error" they are €3.6bn better off than they thought, then decide they can't afford the road after all?

We don't gots the moneys! The taxpayers are being crucified, and those taxes need to go into things like healthcare, education, social welfare, employment growth initiatives etc
It would not go down well with the public at all if our taxes went to pay for a road that would mostly benefit people who don't pay taxes here!

Doesn't really answer my last question though. Was the money there up until Nov 2011? Did nobody tell Inda about the financial crisis until then or something? How can a government (despite knowing it was in a financial crisis) insist it can afford to contribute to a road which it had agreed to do as part of the St. Andrew's Agreement, then find another €3.6bn in the pot that it didn't know about, and subsequently decide it no longer can afford to contribute?

[Tubberman]

Whilst i would also be in favour of the new road, any connection to the tragic incident and those who opposed the new road going through their land is idiotic in the extreme.

Nothing like hitting the hysteria button.   

Sympathies to those invoved in this tragic accident by the way

I don't think it is tbh though I think he was talking more about Danny Kennedy. Everyone who uses that road knows that todays tragic events won't be the last. But hey, why would you want to fix a busy death trap in the neglected west when you can build roads at Greenisland and Ballymoney instead.

Lads the one at Greenisland/Carrick is well over due in fairness, the amount of commuters to Belfast along that stretch is brutal. Granted there are many other ones which would benefit a lot of rural communities to. The infrastructure is crap in the north.

I can appreciate that MR but the A5 project had already begun. Almost 100Million had been spent. Land had been acquired and all was in place . Then when the Unionists discovered that it was being called ''the united Ireland Highway'' they had to stop it at all costs. The reason they used to get it stopped was a pile of environmental bullsh1t IMO. I am also disgusted at the local politicians who seemed to roll over and allow this to happen. These are the clowns that run our country. It makes me sick and it is costing lives.

People around here feel totally let down and days like today prove that we have been.

In fairness here I don't think the blame can be placed on the NI politicians rather it can be placed on the Roads Service engineers and legal team for the balls up they made in firstly neglecting to carry out the necessary environmental studies and then failing to interpret the legal position correctly by going ahead with the Omagh Ballygawley section. The southern Government must also shoulder some of the blame by reneging on its commitment to contribute to the costs of the project

4 of the 5 most deaths on this road in the last 2 years  have been on the Strabane - Omagh section which was dropped due to lack of Southern finance.

We have enough to do doing looking after our own affairs, thanks.

Yes why should the Dublin government, led by the self titled "All-Ireland Party" help fund a road of benefit to the people of Donegal, if there's a chance it might also help save nordie lives? And it's not as if they "as part of the UK /RoI Government endorsement of the St. Andrews Agreement, agreed to provide some £400 million to the route upgrade" and which they "confirmed at the North South Ministerial Council" http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/index/media-centre/news-departments/news-dfp/news-archives-dfp-nov-2011/news-dfp-091111-finance-minister-responds.htm. And sure, what odds the countless lives it would save, as long as Tubberman's "own affairs" are looked after by ensuring there'll be no more of this whole "North/South co-operation" malarkey that the bloody GFA yapped on about, eh? I know I kept asking this earlier in the thread and nobody could answer me, but sure, why not ask again...how can a government claim in May 2011 that they can afford their agreed contribution to the new road, then after realising in November that due to "an accounting error" they are €3.6bn better off than they thought, then decide they can't afford the road after all?

We don't gots the moneys! The taxpayers are being crucified, and those taxes need to go into things like healthcare, education, social welfare, employment growth initiatives etc
It would not go down well with the public at all if our taxes went to pay for a road that would mostly benefit people who don't pay taxes here!

Doesn't really answer my last question though. Was the money there up until Nov 2011? Did nobody tell Inda about the financial crisis until then or something? How can a government (despite knowing it was in a financial crisis) insist it can afford to contribute to a road which it had agreed to do as part of the St. Andrew's Agreement, then find another €3.6bn in the pot that it didn't know about, and subsequently decide it no longer can afford to contribute?

I haven't a clue, haven't been following this saga, I'm just telling you what the reality is for people here and how they would view millions of their taxes being spent in another jurisdiction.

[Stall the Bailer]

Whilst i would also be in favour of the new road, any connection to the tragic incident and those who opposed the new road going through their land is idiotic in the extreme.

Nothing like hitting the hysteria button.   

Sympathies to those invoved in this tragic accident by the way

I don't think it is tbh though I think he was talking more about Danny Kennedy. Everyone who uses that road knows that todays tragic events won't be the last. But hey, why would you want to fix a busy death trap in the neglected west when you can build roads at Greenisland and Ballymoney instead.

Lads the one at Greenisland/Carrick is well over due in fairness, the amount of commuters to Belfast along that stretch is brutal. Granted there are many other ones which would benefit a lot of rural communities to. The infrastructure is crap in the north.

I can appreciate that MR but the A5 project had already begun. Almost 100Million had been spent. Land had been acquired and all was in place . Then when the Unionists discovered that it was being called ''the united Ireland Highway'' they had to stop it at all costs. The reason they used to get it stopped was a pile of environmental bullsh1t IMO. I am also disgusted at the local politicians who seemed to roll over and allow this to happen. These are the clowns that run our country. It makes me sick and it is costing lives.

People around here feel totally let down and days like today prove that we have been.

In fairness here I don't think the blame can be placed on the NI politicians rather it can be placed on the Roads Service engineers and legal team for the balls up they made in firstly neglecting to carry out the necessary environmental studies and then failing to interpret the legal position correctly by going ahead with the Omagh Ballygawley section. The southern Government must also shoulder some of the blame by reneging on its commitment to contribute to the costs of the project

4 of the 5 most deaths on this road in the last 2 years  have been on the Strabane - Omagh section which was dropped due to lack of Southern finance.

We have enough to do doing looking after our own affairs, thanks.

Yes why should the Dublin government, led by the self titled "All-Ireland Party" help fund a road of benefit to the people of Donegal, if there's a chance it might also help save nordie lives? And it's not as if they "as part of the UK /RoI Government endorsement of the St. Andrews Agreement, agreed to provide some £400 million to the route upgrade" and which they "confirmed at the North South Ministerial Council" http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/index/media-centre/news-departments/news-dfp/news-archives-dfp-nov-2011/news-dfp-091111-finance-minister-responds.htm. And sure, what odds the countless lives it would save, as long as Tubberman's "own affairs" are looked after by ensuring there'll be no more of this whole "North/South co-operation" malarkey that the bloody GFA yapped on about, eh? I know I kept asking this earlier in the thread and nobody could answer me, but sure, why not ask again...how can a government claim in May 2011 that they can afford their agreed contribution to the new road, then after realising in November that due to "an accounting error" they are €3.6bn better off than they thought, then decide they can't afford the road after all?

We don't gots the moneys! The taxpayers are being crucified, and those taxes need to go into things like healthcare, education, social welfare, employment growth initiatives etc
It would not go down well with the public at all if our taxes went to pay for a road that would mostly benefit people who don't pay taxes here!

Doesn't really answer my last question though. Was the money there up until Nov 2011? Did nobody tell Inda about the financial crisis until then or something? How can a government (despite knowing it was in a financial crisis) insist it can afford to contribute to a road which it had agreed to do as part of the St. Andrew's Agreement, then find another €3.6bn in the pot that it didn't know about, and subsequently decide it no longer can afford to contribute?

I haven't a clue, haven't been following this saga, I'm just telling you what the reality is for people here and how they would view millions of their taxes being spent in another jurisdiction.

The road does serve Donegal though.
Many of people of injured and killed on the road are also from the South (the man last week for example).

[Nally Stand]

Whilst i would also be in favour of the new road, any connection to the tragic incident and those who opposed the new road going through their land is idiotic in the extreme.

Nothing like hitting the hysteria button.   

Sympathies to those invoved in this tragic accident by the way

I don't think it is tbh though I think he was talking more about Danny Kennedy. Everyone who uses that road knows that todays tragic events won't be the last. But hey, why would you want to fix a busy death trap in the neglected west when you can build roads at Greenisland and Ballymoney instead.

Lads the one at Greenisland/Carrick is well over due in fairness, the amount of commuters to Belfast along that stretch is brutal. Granted there are many other ones which would benefit a lot of rural communities to. The infrastructure is crap in the north.

I can appreciate that MR but the A5 project had already begun. Almost 100Million had been spent. Land had been acquired and all was in place . Then when the Unionists discovered that it was being called ''the united Ireland Highway'' they had to stop it at all costs. The reason they used to get it stopped was a pile of environmental bullsh1t IMO. I am also disgusted at the local politicians who seemed to roll over and allow this to happen. These are the clowns that run our country. It makes me sick and it is costing lives.

People around here feel totally let down and days like today prove that we have been.

In fairness here I don't think the blame can be placed on the NI politicians rather it can be placed on the Roads Service engineers and legal team for the balls up they made in firstly neglecting to carry out the necessary environmental studies and then failing to interpret the legal position correctly by going ahead with the Omagh Ballygawley section. The southern Government must also shoulder some of the blame by reneging on its commitment to contribute to the costs of the project

4 of the 5 most deaths on this road in the last 2 years  have been on the Strabane - Omagh section which was dropped due to lack of Southern finance.

We have enough to do doing looking after our own affairs, thanks.

Yes why should the Dublin government, led by the self titled "All-Ireland Party" help fund a road of benefit to the people of Donegal, if there's a chance it might also help save nordie lives? And it's not as if they "as part of the UK /RoI Government endorsement of the St. Andrews Agreement, agreed to provide some £400 million to the route upgrade" and which they "confirmed at the North South Ministerial Council" http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/index/media-centre/news-departments/news-dfp/news-archives-dfp-nov-2011/news-dfp-091111-finance-minister-responds.htm. And sure, what odds the countless lives it would save, as long as Tubberman's "own affairs" are looked after by ensuring there'll be no more of this whole "North/South co-operation" malarkey that the bloody GFA yapped on about, eh? I know I kept asking this earlier in the thread and nobody could answer me, but sure, why not ask again...how can a government claim in May 2011 that they can afford their agreed contribution to the new road, then after realising in November that due to "an accounting error" they are €3.6bn better off than they thought, then decide they can't afford the road after all?

We don't gots the moneys! The taxpayers are being crucified, and those taxes need to go into things like healthcare, education, social welfare, employment growth initiatives etc
It would not go down well with the public at all if our taxes went to pay for a road that would mostly benefit people who don't pay taxes here!

Doesn't really answer my last question though. Was the money there up until Nov 2011? Did nobody tell Inda about the financial crisis until then or something? How can a government (despite knowing it was in a financial crisis) insist it can afford to contribute to a road which it had agreed to do as part of the St. Andrew's Agreement, then find another €3.6bn in the pot that it didn't know about, and subsequently decide it no longer can afford to contribute?

I haven't a clue, haven't been following this saga, I'm just telling you what the reality is for people here and how they would view millions of their taxes being spent in another jurisdiction.

Unfortunately, my post had nothing to do with how Ireland's gombeen partitionists might feel about the road funding (despite it being a road helping to link Dublin to Donegal). You asked why the south should help fund the upgrade and I explained that the road upgrade would SAVE COUNTLESS LIVES (and as pointed out above, the road in question runs close to the border and is used very heavily by Donegal commuters) and I explained that they should do so because they made a commitment to do so under the St Andrew's Agreement and the N/S Ministerial Council and pointed out they should do so because they claimed to have the money for it before they even knew about the €3.6bn that was also in the kitty.

[armaghniac]

Doesn't really answer my last question though. Was the money there up until Nov 2011? Did nobody tell Inda about the financial crisis until then or something? How can a government (despite knowing it was in a financial crisis) insist it can afford to contribute to a road which it had agreed to do as part of the St. Andrew's Agreement, then find another €3.6bn in the pot that it didn't know about, and subsequently decide it no longer can afford to contribute?

So the ROI government agreed to do something and tried to maintain that commitment as long as possible until the s**t hit the fan and they couldn't do it? Comments about €3.6m are immature nonsense, this is just an accounting treatment of something, not a real increase in resources.

The road does serve Donegal though.
Many of people of injured and killed on the road are also from the South (the man last week for example).

Of course it serves Donegal. My problem here is that because it serves Donegal this is being used as an excuse for the Stormont wasters not to fulfil their obligations towards connectivity on the island of Ireland by bringing it to a proper standard. Many posters here seem to see the broader linking of Ireland as being the responsibility of people in the 26 counties only, nothing to do with them. There is sickening partitionism here sometimes.

[Nally Stand]

So the ROI government agreed to do something and tried to maintain that commitment as long as possible until the s**t hit the fan and they couldn't do it?

The "shit hit the fan" in 2008. Three years later, Dublin was still insisting it would contribute to the raod upgrade.

Comments about €3.6m are immature nonsense, this is just an accounting treatment of something, not a real increase in resources.

Why conveniently brush aside the fact that they found themselves €3.6bn better off than they believed they were when they were so adamant they could afford the road as it was?

[Stall the Bailer]

The road does serve Donegal though.
Many of people of injured and killed on the road are also from the South (the man last week for example).

Of course it serves Donegal. My problem here is that because it serves Donegal this is being used as an excuse for the Stormont wasters not to fulfil their obligations towards connectivity on the island of Ireland by bringing it to a proper standard. Many posters here seem to see the broader linking of Ireland as being the responsibility of people in the 26 counties only, nothing to do with them. There is sickening partitionism here sometimes.

I agree, but saying that South has a committment does not mean the North has not.  They are not mutually exclusive.

[armaghniac]

So the ROI government agreed to do something and tried to maintain that commitment as long as possible until the s**t hit the fan and they couldn't do it?

The "shit hit the fan" in 2008. Three years later, Dublin was still insisting it would contribute to the raod upgrade.

So you are criticising them because it wasn't the first thing that they cut?

Comments about €3.6m are immature nonsense, this is just an accounting treatment of something, not a real increase in resources.

Why conveniently brush aside the fact that they found themselves €3.6bn better off than they believed they were when they were so adamant they could afford the road as it was?

As I said, but you carefully ignored,  they are not  €3.6bn better off in any real sense, this is simply a timing issue of accounting

[Nally Stand]

So the ROI government agreed to do something and tried to maintain that commitment as long as possible until the s**t hit the fan and they couldn't do it?

The "shit hit the fan" in 2008. Three years later, Dublin was still insisting it would contribute to the raod upgrade.

So you are criticising them because it wasn't the first thing that they cut?

No, I'm criticising them because they knew the extent of the financial crisis, but still insisted they could afford the road and insisted they would live up to their St Andrews Agreement commitments, then realised they had more money than they thought they had, and decided they couldn't afford it. And I'm criticising them because in the time they insisted they could afford it, between £40-£50 million was spent on the project and not an inch of tar was laid. Money which now may as well have been flushed down the drain and now more lives will inevitably be lost.

Comments about €3.6m are immature nonsense, this is just an accounting treatment of something, not a real increase in resources.

Why conveniently brush aside the fact that they found themselves €3.6bn better off than they believed they were when they were so adamant they could afford the road as it was?

As I said, but you carefully ignored,  they are not €3.6bn better off in any real sense, this is simply a timing issue of accounting

I didn't say they were €3.6bn better off. I said they realised they were €3.6bn better off than they believed they were when they said they could afford the road. It's like me insisting I can afford a bag of crisps because I reckon I have £5, then realising I actually had £5.20 and subsequently deciding that I can no longer afford that bag of crisps.

[armaghniac]

I didn't say they were €3.6bn better off. I said they realised they were €3.6bn better off than they believed

They weren't any better off, they had the same amount of money as before. They simply had a different accounting measure of debt, but this was no use for spending money as the money you had remained the same. If you have no money and you received a statement that your mortgage wasn't as big as you though, how would this help you spend?

And I'm criticising them because in the time they insisted they could afford it, between £40-£50 million was spent on the project and not an inch of tar was laid. Money which now may as well have been flushed down the drain and now more lives will inevitably be lost.

Why was the money lost? Is the route going to change? Why doesn't Stormont build the thing and get the Freestate money later?

[EC Unique]

I didn't say they were €3.6bn better off. I said they realised they were €3.6bn better off than they believed

They weren't any better off, they had the same amount of money as before. They simply had a different accounting measure of debt, but this was no use for spending money as the money you had remained the same. If you have no money and you received a statement that your mortgage wasn't as big as you though, how would this help you spend?

And I'm criticising them because in the time they insisted they could afford it, between £40-£50 million was spent on the project and not an inch of tar was laid. Money which now may as well have been flushed down the drain and now more lives will inevitably be lost.

Why was the money lost? Is the route going to change? Why doesn't Stormont build the thing and get the Freestate money later?

As far as I can see the project is stopped and there are no plans to start it again. I predict that 10 years from now there still will be no road.

[Nally Stand]

I didn't say they were €3.6bn better off. I said they realised they were €3.6bn better off than they believed

They weren't any better off, they had the same amount of money as before. They simply had a different accounting measure of debt, but this was no use for spending money as the money you had remained the same. If you have no money and you received a statement that your mortgage wasn't as big as you though, how would this help you spend?

And I'm criticising them because in the time they insisted they could afford it, between £40-£50 million was spent on the project and not an inch of tar was laid. Money which now may as well have been flushed down the drain and now more lives will inevitably be lost.

Why was the money lost? Is the route going to change? Why doesn't Stormont build the thing and get the Freestate money later?

No sh*t, of course they had the same money as before, but when they thought they were €3.6bn less well off than they were, they said they could afford to live up to their commitments. As I stated, it's akin to me insisting I can afford a bag of crisps because I THINK I have £5 even though I had £5.20, then after realising I actually had £5.20 all along, I decide that I can no longer afford that bag of crisps. As for why the money was lost, I assume it was because it was spent on consultations/land purchasing etc on the knowledge that the dublin government would cough up what it promised to cough up, when it promised it would cough it up. As for why stormont doesn't "build the thing and get the money later", maybe they can't afford to take the hit themselves all at once, maybe the will wasn't there for other reasons - maybe greed of local land owners stopped them, maybe sectarianism raised it's ugly head. But in the end, the commitment was given by Dublin as part of St. Andrew's and it wasn't delivered upon. A commitment they were, well, committed to, long after they knew they were in a financial crisis, and long before they found out they were €3.6bn better off than they had thought they were.

[armaghniac]

No sh*t, of course they had the same money as before,

If you have the same money as before, then why should you increase spending?
As I said, the accounting calculations only related to debt.

A commitment they were, well, committed to, long after they knew they were in a financial crisis,

Exactly, they held on to the commitment as long as they could. What more could they do?