I am young enough to be intrigued by the phrase "negative buoyancy". The report I received from the Dublin City Centre Business Association is an excellent one. They dealt not only with public transport but also with the administrative structure behind it, the need for a data base, the need for investment in the system, improvement in the standard of taxis and a whole range of other proposals which they felt would bring the city centre of Dublin back to life. The various Departments to whom the report has been sent are considering those proposals.
I know the amount of traffic in the city at present is unacceptable. On the other hand it demonstrates that economic activity in the city is perhaps not as poor as the Deputy suggests. It is certainly not a desert area but is active, thriving and lively. What I am anxious to do within the resources available to me is to provide a practical transport system, but my resources are very limited. I am considering — I know the Deputy has views on this — the potential for private investment in the transport system. State funds are simply not available, nor are European funds, to build the kind of glamorous 21st century transport systems that are being proposed at present. We would be talking of hundreds of millions of pounds, which the Exchequer simply does not have. I do not think we need such a glamorous system immediately. There is a question down from Deputy Mitchell, which I will deal with later, about an underground system. We are not at that stage of public transport in this country. We have to work within our resources and whatever resources I can raise from the private sector. I am considering options as to how to raise those funds and invest in a bus-based system which is the most practical system at this stage.