Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Where does Mr. O'Gorman see this going? We cannot keep waiting for a body to make a decision on infrastructure that is so crucial to the west of Ireland.

My next question is for Mr. O'Rourke. With the best will in the world, the Port of Galway has gone to planning and is doing as much as it can. Mr. O'Rourke is looking for reappointment. What is being done on this saga? For a port to survive and get better it needs infrastructure. The Galway outer ring road will take ten more years if we are being honest. Is that success or failure? In my opinion it is failure.

Mr. O'Rourke spoke about safety. Reviews were done on transport and speed limits throughout the country. Certain towns made submissions to the councils that were completely overruled by TII. They wanted to reduce the speed in those towns. The word we have got back very clearly from the councils, and we have seen what TII has said, is that it would not agree with reducing the speed at the entrance to some towns. I am astonished at this when we speak about safety. It was stated there were 500 km or 600 km where safety features would take priority, but these are dragging and decisions need to be made more quickly.

Can public private partnerships be done over 20, 25 or 30 years? What rate of interest is paid on them? Are design, build and operate contracts used? We are injecting a large amount of money into getting consultants to do all of this. I have seen a lot of building work done under design, build and operate contracts, which may cut costs. I looked at the new national planning framework and the capital plan, and the N4 and N5 are in it and there is a bit between Longford and Mullingar. There is also the M20, which is welcome. There is vague mention of Tuam to Sligo. I do not know whether Letterkenny even exists at this stage. Why is there not a view that we try over the next ten to 15 years to bring our national routes to dual carriageway status at least? Why have we not even looked at an idea other countries have looked at, namely, the two and one with a mile of double lane where people can overtake and then a single lane where it may not be possible to put in the two lanes. Why have we not done more of this? If we travel in other countries we see it is done.

Will Mr. O'Gorman give his vision of where he sees the Port of Galway going? What help does he need from politicians? It is looking at the largest sea facing us. It is great that Foynes will be a deep-sea port and it is great to hear about the Port of Cork. They are opening up tourism to those places. Killybegs and Galway need to be brought up to this standard. What is Mr. O'Gorman's vision and where does he intend it to go? What funding will he put behind it?