Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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Question 23: To ask the Minister for Transport; Tourism and Sport if he will provide details on the amount of funding to be allocated to Wexford over the next three years for the improvement of the national secondary roads network following the findings of the National Secondary Roads Needs Study; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19295/11]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy's question relates to the roads funding to be allocated to County Wexford in the next three years. As Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding under the national roads programme. The construction, improvement and maintenance of national primary and national secondary roads are matters for the National Roads Authority, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. The assessment and prioritisation of individual projects are matters in the first instance for the NRA, working within its capital budget, in accordance with section 19 of the Roads Act 1993.

As the Deputy is aware, the national recovery plan published by the previous Government in November 2010 envisaged that investment in the road network would be significantly reduced for the duration of the plan. Therefore, the scope for proceeding with significant projects is very limited. The capital investment review under way across all sectors will form the basis of a new national development plan for the period between 2012 and 2016. The plan is scheduled to be published in September. The review will examine the costs and benefits of capital projects against a range of economic, social and environmental criteria. Among the key considerations in the transport sector will be the need to continue remedial safety measures. When the funding framework for capital expenditure has been determined, it will be a matter for the NRA to prioritise projects within its funding envelope. Therefore, I am not in a position to provide the specific detail sought by the Deputy.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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I can understand why there will be less money to spend on roads in the next couple of years. I would be the first to admit that people from less well-off sectors of society are probably more in need of the money available. I wrote to the Department two months ago to ask for an explanation of the relationship between the Minister and the NRA, with specific reference to the division of authority between them. Like many others, I have the general impression that the NRA is a very powerful body. I do not know whether the Minister has total control over it. Is it given guidelines within which it should work? Who decides the number of years over which the cost benefit analysis of a project should be worked out? One of our problems is that we have to pay over €110,000 a week to private operators because we over-estimated the volume of traffic that would use developments such as the M3 and the Limerick tunnel. Who made the mistakes in these cases? Most people are aware that many of the motorways built in recent years were developed to too high a specification. Is there a line of responsibility that can be traced in such cases?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I do not have total control over the NRA. Similarly, I do not have control over the local authorities which take the lead in planning new road projects. I appoint the board of the NRA and provide funding for it in the context of the overall Government budget. I can also issue policy directions to it, although I have not done so to date. However, I will be in a position to do so after the capital spending review has been completed. It is likely that I will prioritise maintenance, road restoration and safety works. New projects will be considered thereafter on the basis of cost benefit analyses. It will be difficult to do this until I know how much money will be in the roads envelope. As the Deputy said, the developers of two PPP projects are being compensated because traffic volumes are lower than anticipated. Such an approach was not taken in most PPPs, but it was taken in a number of cases. Compensation is being paid in just two cases. The reason for this is the major reduction in traffic volumes that resulted from the 20% contraction in the economy. In fairness, none of the doomsayers of five years ago predicted an economic contraction on that scale.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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Some of the those who have analysed the matter have said we would need a population of approximately 10 million to justify some of the traffic volume projections made. Perhaps the Minister would not agree, but that is the feeling. I would like some serious research to be conducted into what has gone on in the last ten years. We need to examine the developers who were getting the work on major projects. We should analyse the amount of money they were receiving per kilometre, by comparison with that paid elsewhere in Europe. Part of the equation was that the jobs for the boys became bigger and bigger as a result of over-specification.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I agree that there was over-specification. If one examines the files, one will find much of it was politically driven by politicians and Ministers who decided a motorway was needed, even though a dual carriageway might have done. Many State companies were put under pressure by the previous Government to build bigger and greater things than were necessary. I do not share that kind of "if you build it, they will come" view. The specification has to be appropriate. I have had discussions with the transport unit of the ESRI with a view to looking back at whether the major interurban motorways built could have been done better, as suggested by the Deputy. We have to learn from what happened in the past. A significant proportion of the high cost of the roads built can be attributed to the payments made to land owners and the arrangement reached with the Irish Farmers Association on land costs. It is fair to say that arrangement would not be made now. They got a very good deal. The files confirm the political pressure that a deal needed to be cut with the landowners.