Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 29 June 2016

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (Revised)

9:00 am

Photo of Shane RossShane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Programme B, land transport, is the largest programme by far in the Department's Vote, representing 80% of my overall budget. A large portion of this is capital investment. The main components of the programme are roads improvement and maintenance funding with an overall budget of €720 million, the public transport investment programme at €347 million and public service provision payments at €250 million. The programme also includes provision of €13 million towards the smarter travel carbon reduction programme and €15 million for the operating costs of the National Driver Licence Service.

As the economy recovers, the demand and associated costs for increased service levels and quality grows. Fiscal constraints over the past number of years have meant that the funding available for the land transport programme has fallen short of where it needs to be. Addressing the projected growth in transport demand needs careful planning, analysis and investment. While transport policy may be shifting towards dealing with growth rather than decline, the prudent fiscal regime in which we must operate dictates that funding for transport, like other capital hungry sectors, is likely to be more constrained than we would wish for the years to come.

The existing capital plan provides for a substantial increase in land transport over the six years of the plan, increasing from €1 billion this year to almost €2 billion in 2021. The plan provides for additional funding for roads, rail infrastructure and public transport investment, ensuring that we increase State levels to maintain existing infrastructure and rolling stock and begin delivering what are modest, but important, improvements to passenger transport users, the freight sector and private car users.

Funds are being allocated in 2016 to facilitate the ongoing construction of the new Luas cross city line. This major public transport project has been delivered within budget and is on schedule for completion in 2017.

Given competing demands across the system and the continuing need for restraint, the challenge is to maintain the existing levels of funding for key programmes and seek modest increases where they are justified and represent value for money. A key priority will be to ensure funding for public service obligations, including the rural transport programme, is at a level that ensures the increased level of demand being placed on public transport system can be met.

I am happy that this year's Estimate provides a 14%, or €28 million, increase in support to public transport services. The priorities for this funding are to respond to passenger demand by intensifying key routes on Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann services, the opening of the Phoenix Park tunnel for commuter services and DART service improvements. I expect all of this funding to be fully spent by the end of the year.

In addition, the previous Government decided in January, after the Revised Estimates were published, to allocate €106 million to assist in the repair of storm and flood damage to transport infrastructure. This represents an additional €96 million over and above the provision included in the Revised Estimate for land transport. Following this decision, funding for the repair of regional and local roads has been allocated to local authorities in two tranches. The first tranche of €85 million was allocated in February to help local authorities start repairs as quickly as possible and the balance was held back and allocated in May to allow more time for further investigation and evaluation of certain proposed works, including that relating to bridges. To date, €15.7 million has been drawn down in respect of repair works on regional and local roads. Separately, €8 million has been allocated to Transport Infrastructure Ireland for repair works to national roads and a further €8 million to Irish Rail for repairs to the rail network. The formal allocation of this funding to the Vote will be done by way of a Supplementary Estimate later this year.

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