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

I will keep the questions specific. There is a €5 million allocation for bus and Luas investment. The Minister said an additional €5 million will be assigned partly to bus fleet purchase and partly to stage payments for eight additional Luas trams. How many new buses will be acquired with the funding? When will they be delivered? Will these be new buses?

The money is being used to purchase new buses. Will they be hybrid buses or conventional buses? As the Minister will be aware, the State has decarbonisation targets to reach by 2020. Transport is now the second largest contributing sector to greenhouse gas emissions. It is important to have a clear move away from fossil fuels in transport. We need to accelerate our migration towards renewable energies.

There is an allocation of €200,000 for the Irish Rail accessibility app, which is a welcome proposal. The joint committee held hearings on how we can make public transport more accessible for people with a disability. The allocation is welcome, positive and to be complimented. Will the Minister give a timeline for when the app will be up and running? Given the intention of the app, will there will an additional requirement to ensure that the necessary personnel and supports will be at the various train stations? When someone arrives at a station, will operative assistance be available? I know from a previous briefing with Irish Rail representatives that many of the stations are not fully wheelchair friendly. We are putting in €200,000 for the app and that is welcome, but it may raise problems. If a person wants to travel from a particular station but that station is not wheelchair accessible, then there may be a problem. Can the Minister comment on that?

A sum of €400,000 is allocated for the cycling package, which is small. We are still well below where we were when the Minister took over in terms of our annual spend on cycling. When does the he envisage that he will be back at the level of spending where the Department was before he took office?

Additional road money is welcome but we are still somewhat below our steady-state requirement. Does the Minister have any indication of when we might be in a position to meet that requirement? Ultimately, the longer we prolong investment in our roads, the more it will cost in the long run.

A sum of €3 million is allocated for the BMO project. We were all told that the opening of certain routes was to save money. Now we see that a large amount of capital expenditure is allocated at the outset. What exactly is the €3 million for? Will it go towards the provision and purchase of garage facilitates? How much money has the Department expended on the bus BMO project in total?