Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I remind Fine Gael colleagues that one swallow does not make a summer. They must not take public transport too often around Dublin or engage with their constituents too often around Dublin because the position is quite stark. Reading the Irish Independentthis week, there is a report that rush hour now takes up three hours in the morning and three in the evening, totalling six hours. I am not blaming the bodies before us per seas they can only deal with allocated resources. Failing to address this in any meaningful way, however, means we are robbing people of their lives and leaving them stuck in cars, trains and buses for prolonged periods. It is not right, proper or justifiable.

The witnesses alluded in their opening statements to the lack of resources impeding what they could do. I have raised the following point umpteen times, even when we had the EU Commissioner responsible for transportation before the committee. There is a resistance by any State agents and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to avail of funding that could be got at unprecedented low interest rates to invest in public infrastructure. As a country we had borrowed heavily but the Italian Government was able to borrow €500 million to improve its rail infrastructure, while we did not do likewise. It was a big miss and we have been paying for that lack of investment and foresight over the past number of years.

Given the multi-stakeholder approach in dealing with traffic, bus, rail and Luas in Dublin, what are the specific legislative responsibilities of the two bodies before us today? What must they deliver in rolling out infrastructure, maintaining it and overseeing operations? Dublin City Council, Dublin Bus, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the National Transport Authority all have a role to play in some way. What is the individual role of the bodies before us in rolling out transport? Is there a service level agreement in place between the various stakeholders? The chief executive officer of Dublin City Council appeared before the committee a while ago and he said that he had hoped An Bord Pleanála would have adjudicated on the planning application for the College Green plaza before now but he did not apply in time. Why was that and who will hold him to account to ensure an application could be made in time?

There was mention of sweating the M50 asset. There are some meaningful short-term goals. As for the legislation required to vary speed limits, has there been any consultation with the Department? Has legislation been commenced or is it in the drafting stage? My experience of the Minister over the past two years is that he is unable to bring key legislation through the Oireachtas.

There was mention of the plan for the greater Dublin area.

Part of its plan is to have 10% of all short journeys conducted by bicycle. I recently submitted a parliamentary question on this. Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan. If the money goes up, it is to the Minister's credit; if it is reduced, it is the fault of the NTA. At a time when we are trying to encourage people to use bicycles, why did the funding for this network fall from €18 million in 2016 to €10 million in 2018? It is unbelievable when more people are opting to cycle and when there has been a policy decision to increase the number of cyclists.

BusConnects is very ambitious but I think will be very good when it is in operation. However, I am concerned about the length of time it will take to roll out. Dublin Bus was recently before the committee and its representatives identified a number of pinch points and signalling changes that would help in the here and now. Dublin Bus has applied to the NTA for the necessary funding for those changes. Why is there a delay in making that funding available? Dublin Bus is by far the largest public passenger carrier in the greater Dublin area and passengers have increased from 120 million to 150 million in recent years. However, this increase has not been matched by an expansion of the fleet. Why is that? Why is the NTA not investing more in buses? If we are serious about getting people out of cars, we have to offer them a reliable, efficient and affordable alternative but that is not the case on certain routes.

What is the current capacity of the Dublin Port tunnel? I recently met the Irish Road Haulage Association, which said the tunnel is nowhere near its capacity. Perhaps some of the charges at key times of the day are prohibitive. Could we look at the charges and see if we can get more people out of the city centre to use the ports?