Mr. Frank Allen:

I will proceed with those questions before turning over to my colleagues.

The Dublin Transportation Initiative, DTI, of 1996 was right about the economic and social costs to the greater Dublin area and the people living here of a lack of high-capacity public transport. The fact that investment was not made as anticipated at the time has resulted in a sprawl, a certain quality of life for people travelling exceptionally long distances and being caught in congestion on the way into the city. The DTI was right and nothing has happened in the meantime to contradict its conclusion.

The initiatives that arose from the DTI, including the Luas, made a significant contribution to improving quality of life when implemented. Unfortunately, not enough was done, which has resulted in urban sprawl. The population of Dublin lives in approximately three times the space of a comparable population in continental Europe. This has adverse consequences in terms of the economy, quality of life and sustainability.

Regarding issues that need more urgent attention, for example, sustainability, our commitments as a community to addressing climate change and the national mitigation plan that was published in July, there is no way that we can meet our obligations under those proposals without a change in the number of people travelling using public transport rather than private cars. This requires high capacity.

Deputy Murphy referred to how my colleague, Mr. Kenny, stated that the DART underground would be a game changer. It would be. The Deputy asked me whether this remained our priority. In that regard, and given the amount of money that is realistically available to us, I would try to ensure that we protect the quality of public transport for the 45 million people who are using Iarnród Éireann this year, increase capacity on those routes and then determine how to extend further. The first step will be to determine how to extend electrification of the railway lines, which is a critical part of the DART underground project, incrementally and as soon as possible with a view to having more electrified transport. Rather than waiting for one big bang, we should be asking which pieces of the overall railway infrastructure can be implemented progressively so that more people can be brought onto it.

The Deputy mentioned deferred maintenance in recent years and the need to catch up on expenditure that had not taken place. She asked at what stage safety becomes compromised in some way. The job of Iarnród Éireann's board and management has to be to worry about safety all of the time. Everything that takes place has a safety dimension. We should be worried, and we are. However, onerous and thorough procedures are in place so that, if a deteriorated infrastructure reaches a stage at which safety specialists believe that passengers are at risk beyond the low point that remains practicable, which is the term that is used, then the service stops.

We are not at that stage.