Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In many ways, this is one of the disappointing areas. I acknowledge that the Minister must balance his budget but the lack of capital projects such as the metro north project must be borne in mind. I know the Minister's response in this regard.

Expenditure on local and regional roads this year is to be €330 million. A considerable amount is required. As the Minister said, there will probably be an additional cost associated with storm damage. There are areas with massive potholes. Meath is one area that always comes to mind because those affected keep contacting representatives about it. We are obviously not meeting our targets with road expenditure. I do not know whether the Minister could ever dig up more money and tackle some of these issues, particularly potholes.

The roads budget has been cut by almost €3 million. I wish to tease this out. The Minister referred to agencies and expenses. Could he explain this a little more? At the start of this year, there has already been a significant increase. Some noises seem to be coming from the Road Safety Authority in regard to resources being made available. The PSO reduction is 7%. In this regard, I refer to the overall figure of €221 million. The Minister stated he will decrease the subvention next year and he hopes he might not have to do so thereafter. However, if we keep decreasing the subvention, we will run into major problems with Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann.

The Minister said he will increase passenger numbers by 2%. Could he explain how this will be achieved? I have always said the Nitelink service should be expanded because it is very limited on certain days. Expanding it would certainly increase numbers and, if the service were run in a proper way, provide revenue. Dublin Bus should be considering this.

I welcome the roadside drug testing. The equipment is badly needed. If we get the system up and running, it will certainly improve road safety. Perhaps the Minister will indicate when it will be up and running.