Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will deal first with Deputy Catherine Murphy's question about congestion. We are basically looking at the longer term. I cannot say specifically what we are looking for in the subvention. I will not do that, but we are certainly looking for substantial and meaningful increases in that. It would be wrong, and foolish as well, for me to give the Deputy a figure but we are looking for substantial increases in the 2017 Estimates for the subvention. The Deputy can take that as given. However, the focus of any subvention, as I already told Deputy Barry, will be on services. Let there be no ambiguity about that. The focus will be for improved services and it would be wrong to speculate any further than that.

Am I optimistic? Yes, I am optimistic about that. There is a realisation in Government that there is a real need for transport. Senator Ó Céidigh said how vital transport and road infrastructure is to the economy and for jobs. It is fortunate we have a Minister there who was in this particular post before, so he is aware of the needs as well as the importance of infrastructure. That the Government is looking at such a high proportion of public expenditure as against income is a reflection of that. It will be reflected in the coming years in a much larger proportion of spending coming to the transport portfolio.

As Deputy Murphy knows, there is a mid-term capital review next year. It will examine a large number of projects and prioritise them, including the ones for Galway which were mentioned. In answer to Deputy Murphy's question, therefore, it is a high priority for me. I accept her point about the limited sources of income for transport companies. We are talking about the public service obligation, PSO, fares.

I accept that and it has a very high priority for me.

Deputy Catherine Murphy also asked a question about climate change. The key priorities in my Department are to agree carbon reduction measures in transport and prepare the sector's contribution to the national mitigation plan for submission to the climate change advisory committee in the fourth quarter of 2016; to prepare, also in the fourth quarter, for public consultation a draft of a national climate change adaptation plan for the transport sector; to develop a national policy framework for an alternative transport fuels infrastructure for Ireland, including the preparation of a strategic environment assessment for public consultation and the transposition into Irish law by 18 November of the directive on the deployment of an alternative fuels infrastructure; to play a key role in the Government task force to agree additional measures to promote low-carbon emitting vehicles, for example, electric, hydrogen and gas-fuelled vehicles; and to represent the Department's position in national negotiations on climate change targets to 2030. As the committee probably knows, the Department has a newly formed climate change unit which is working with key partners, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. It is responsible for the development of a national policy on climate change mitigation and adaptation to ensure the transport sector can contribute to an effective transition to a low-carbon and resilient energy system by 2050.

On CIE's financial position, the CIE group recorded an improved financial position in 2015 when compared to the position in recent years and, in particular, the financial crisis in the group which occurred in 2012, to which Deputy Catherine Murphy referred. She also spoke about the challenges faced. There are really serious challenges ahead. My Department is working with CIE to devise a model that will allow the group to continue to meet its obligations and develop in a sustainable manner after 2016. This model requires careful consideration and work is being done on it in close consultation with State agencies, the National Transport Authority and NewERA, as well as the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. It is a difficult financial period for all of the CIE companies, one which we monitor in the Department on a daily, if not an hourly, basis. The increasing passenger numbers are an encouraging sign of the potential, if we can move people out of their cars and into public transport.

I sympathise with but not from a personal point of view and I am impressed by the arguments made by Senator John O'Mahony about rural transport services. I have two colleagues in the group of which I am part who talk to me of little else. The rural transport programme probably is addressing that issue and we are certainly making great efforts to try to improve the position in the next few years. The Government is sympathetic. In the conversations I have had with him, the Minister is certainly sympathetic to the fact that there is a lack of infrastructure in rural Ireland generally. I do not think the problem is particular to Galway. However, it certainly is reflected in what we are doing and how we are trying to address it.

On board appointments, Senator John O'Mahony has said everyone has a political affiliation. I am not sure that is true, but I see the point he is making and think it has been well made. There is, of course, a problem. He says one sees people appointed who very obviously have political colours, which is obviously a big problem, or people whom one does not know at all apply and one also has a problem. That indicates that both processes are flawed. The first process which I think was abused by Ministers in the past left it open to them and they came under extreme pressure to appoint people from their own parties or with certain political loyalties. That problem was not totally remedied, but the position was improved on by the guidelines of November 2014. We now have a system about which I suspect people know very little. I knew little about it until I came into the Department and discovered that Ministers had vast choices of people whom they did not know, about whom they did not know anything and who had not been properly screened. That is the problem. They are coming through on the basis of their CVs and without an interview. In the case of the Irish Sports Council, for instance, with which the committee will probably be familiar - if I am wrong by a figure or two, please forgive me - I think there were more than 90 applicants for two places on the council. The number of names before the Minister was 33. How is a Minister supposed to decide who should be given the two places on the council? The people in question have qualifications which match, but they have not been interviewed or selected in a forensic way. That is my problem. The position is identical in the case of the RSA and in other areas of my Department also. I have in front of me 33 names to fill two places on the Irish Sports Council and I am sure they are all good people. I do not have a clue and have no idea who I should choose. I know one or two of the names. I must say one of them was a very strong supporter of mine in the Seanad elections. That is what happened and it makes it a very difficult choice for me. I am confronted with deciding if choosing that person would be a good or a bad course of action. Whatever I do will be be coloured by this. We have problems, but we now have new one which in some ways are larger.

Shall I leave the question on the sports capital programme until we come to deal with the sports area?