Mr. Fred Barry:

I will take Deputy Troy's questions first about who sets the policy. It is the Oireachtas and the Minister who set strategic policy. An organisation such as the NTA would certainly have a policy setting role, but that would be subsidiary to the policy set by the Government or the Minister. I cannot envisage any circumstances in which the NTA should be trying to develop or implement policies that run counter to the policies of the Government.

I shall now turn to the issue of public transport and the affordability of investment in the role of public private partnerships, PPPs. As the Chairman is aware, I have had considerable involvement with PPPs in my time with the National Roads Authority. PPPs generally worked well in those circumstances because they allowed us to build roads that otherwise would not have been built. The point is well made that it is cheaper for the State to borrow as the State, than it is for any subsidiary State agency to generate or borrow money through a PPP offering. There is sometimes a question in this regard. If, because of the constraints on a government's fiscal space or EU rules and so on, one cannot borrow the money through national borrowing, then one is looking at whether money could be borrowed effectively through a PPP. In those circumstances, the need for the investment and the return on it would have to be significantly greater than the cost through the PPP. If State funding is available it is lower cost funding to the public than PPP funding.

With regard to the role of transport on housing, I believe the NTA has a particular role. The NTA is responsible for the integration of transport and land use, planning with all the local authorities and the strategic transport planning in the Dublin area. In regard to local authority county or area plans into which the NTA has an input, when the local authority is planning where the housing is to go and how it is to be developed, it is important this is done in conjunction with the NTA so that development of the transport and the housing goes hand in glove and when the housing is developed that there is transport for the people.

Deputy Troy made reference to the increasing numbers of people who cycle. I include myself in that increase. I do not know all the details of the NTA's cycling development plans. I do, however, know they are looking at developing some 200 km of cycle ways in the greater Dublin area. If this is done it will be a significant help in developing cycling. Cycling facilities, especially within urban areas, are at a much lower standard than we would all like them to be. The mingling of heavy traffic and cycling in particular is inherently dangerous. We would all like to see an evolution of segregated cycling lanes with time.