Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and his officials. In principle we do not have a problem with the Supplementary Estimate put forward. I will commence with speaking on parts with which I agree. I welcome the reallocation of €1 million to carry out the trial project to ascertain whether it would be possible to get more HGVs utilising the motorway net. That is helpful. The infrastructure has been put in place at considerable cost to the State and, unfortunately, it has not been utilised as well as one would have expected. Maybe that is understandable given the pressures on the haulage sector including competition from outside, increasing oil prices and the reduction in fees. I look forward to the outcome of the trial and if it has helped to get the shift away from the local and regional road network.

Some €50 million has already been spent. Needless to say the money was needed. Perhaps it identifies a weakness in the Department or between the Government and the Department in recognising at the beginning of the budgetary process the necessity to conduct a complete audit of the road network in conjunction with local authorities to understand more clearly the needs for the year ahead. While the temptation in Government is to indicate half-way through the year that it has found some new money, that it is assisting in the creation of jobs and tidying up the road network, politically it works but I think it signals a weakness within the Department's appropriate planning. I recognise we had a number of bad winters. During the Estimates process significant pressures on the road network should have been recognised. I do not wish to speak for Deputy McEntee but as transport spokesperson I had an opportunity to visit County Meath with Senator Thomas Byrne and a number of councillors during the year. The secondary road network there is in exceptionally poor condition. That was recognised by the local authority and the Department for some time. I would have thought a better audit could be undertaken throughout the country, using the local council engineers to provide a comprehensive framework, to determine costs. That is a political point but obviously we will support the Estimate. The money is spent. The work is largely done. I would hope the Department would engage more wholesomely with local authorities to ensure this type of Supplementary Estimate does not have to be provided on an annual basis.