A5 WTC (New Road from Aughnacloy to Derry)

[Nally Stand]

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?

Increase spending? They weren't going to increase spending. They were going to spend the same as they already said they could afford before the €3.6bn error was even discovered.

[armaghniac]

How many times do I have to say it? The €3.6Bn was not available for expenditure, the difference arose in the way debt was calculated. It is entirely irrelevant to this discussion, except as a means of prolonging it.

[Nally Stand]

How many times do I have to say it? The €3.6Bn was not available for expenditure, the difference arose in the way debt was calculated. It is entirely irrelevant to this discussion, except as a means of prolonging it.

It isn't irrelevant. They owed €3.6bn less than they had thought they did. Which, again, makes their subsequent decision that they didn't have the money after all (despite insisting for three years of an economic crisis that they had) all the more odd. To adapt my scenario, if I owe my friend 20p but want a bag of crisps and I am sure I can still afford them, and suddenly discover that I actually only owe my friend less than the 20p I'd thought, well if the crisps were affordable when I thought I owed 20p, they're bound to be affordable now!

[armaghniac]

It isn't irrelevant. They owed €3.6bn less than they had thought they did.

It is irrelevant. They may have owed less in total, but they were in a bailout and could not borrow more just because of this.

If you wanted to get a new kitchem your house and couldn't afford it, and a mortgage statement arrived which showed the outstanding mortgage not as high as you thought. You still have a problem, you don't have the money and whatever the mortgage was they won't lend you more because you don't have money.

The 26 county government may be run by shower of chancers, but it does pay its own way and cannot conjure money out of the air, there has to be some connection between what you have and what you spend, a linkage that does not seem to apply north of the border. 

[Nally Stand]

It isn't irrelevant. They owed €3.6bn less than they had thought they did.

It is irrelevant. They may have owed less in total, but they were in a bailout and could not borrow more just because of this.

If you wanted to get a new kitchem your house and couldn't afford it, and a mortgage statement arrived which showed the outstanding mortgage not as high as you thought. You still have a problem, you don't have the money and whatever the mortgage was they won't lend you more because you don't have money.

The 26 county government may be run by shower of chancers, but it does pay its own way and cannot conjure money out of the air, there has to be some connection between what you have and what you spend, a linkage that does not seem to apply north of the border.

So once again, how is it they maintained they could afford to contribute when they were in a more financially perilous position than they were when they decided they couldn't afford to?

[armaghniac]

So once again, how is it they maintained they could afford to contribute when they were in a more financially perilous position than they were when they decided they couldn't afford to?

They didn't. In 2008 they thought they could still do it, things got worse and in 2011 they realised they couldn't do it. Nothing to report.

[Nally Stand]

So once again, how is it they maintained they could afford to contribute when they were in a more financially perilous position than they were when they decided they couldn't afford to?

They didn't. In 2008 they thought they could still do it, things got worse and in 2011 they realised they couldn't do it. Nothing to report.

In May 2011 they were all for it. Not long before they realised they owed €3.6bn less than they thought they did in May.

[armaghniac]

So once again, how is it they maintained they could afford to contribute when they were in a more financially perilous position than they were when they decided they couldn't afford to?

They didn't. In 2008 they thought they could still do it, things got worse and in 2011 they realised they couldn't do it. Nothing to report.

In May 2011 they were all for it. Not long before they realised they owed €3.6bn less than they thought they did in May.

OK then, we have an agreed versionn. In 2008 they still thought they could do it, in May 2011 they hadn't admitted they couldn't do it, they later admitted they couldn't do it and shortly afterwards there was a lot of newspaper hype about an accounting error that had nothing whatsoever to do with their ability to fund the A5.

[Nally Stand]

OK then, we have an agreed version.

No we don't.

In 2008 they still thought they could do it, in May 2011 they hadn't admitted they couldn't do it,

"Hadn't admitted they couldn't do it"? How's that for a bit of waffling! Not so much that they "didn't admit they couldn't", but more that they openly insisted they could and would...
To quote Inda at the end of May 2011, "The previous government had committed to put money in there and we will honour that commitment."

they later admitted they couldn't do it and shortly afterwards there was a lot of newspaper hype about an accounting error... that had nothing whatsoever to do with their ability to fund the A5.

The accounting error was discovered over a week BEFORE they announced they couldn't do it.

...about an accounting error that had nothing whatsoever to do with their ability to fund the A5.

Considerations of what one owes has nothing to do with one's ability to spend? You're basically you are saying they couldn't afford it because of the size of their debt....but if they suddenly realise their debt wasn't quite as big as they thought, then debt suddenly has "nothing whatsoever" to do with their ability to spend.

[EC Unique]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25816124

[orangeman]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25816124

Who got the £60m that has already been spent on the job ?

[EC Unique]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25816124

Who got the £60m that has already been spent on the job ?

Consultants, test digs, ground clearance, solicitors, engineers, public meetings and presentations etc, fields have been dozed, hedges have been cut down and moved. A lot of fencing done. Work had well and truly begun.

[Hereiam]

Unreal what is going on. I have no doubt that there is a unionist/DUP agenda against any north/south, nationalist benefiting scheme's on this part of the Island. They have managed to stop the narrow bridge scheme and the upgrading of the A5 and in years gone by they had Craigavon as the second city instead of Derry.... the list endless.

[ziggysego]

Good news day for the A5 - Tweet from Wesley Johnston @niroads:

All 3 Habitats Directive assessments just published suggest either no impact at all, or minor and manageable impacts. Good news for #A5WTC

6 week consultation period on the 3 reports...

a5wtc.com

[Hereiam]

Not worth the time &effort. The road is gone.