Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 10 October 2019

Public Accounts Committee

2018 Financial Statements of the National Transport Authority

9:00 am

Photo of Shane CassellsShane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The study of Meath noted that there were limited road capacity enhancements available within that corridor. Furthermore, the ability to create corridors from that area into the city centre is very limited. We have been examining it for two decades, when I was a member of the transportation strategic policy committee, SPC, on Meath County Council. I will contact the council's chief executive about having a meeting with the NTA. The premise for such a meeting would be to examine how, given the huge number of people returning to work and commuting into the city centre and the population explosion in towns such as Dunshaughlin and Navan, the figures in the previous report need to be reviewed sooner than 2021, especially as the draft development plan is about to be published.

The regional, spatial and economic strategy for 2019-31 is a very important document, particularly for public transport. Last August, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Murphy, issued a draft ministerial direction to the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly that it delete the line, "Implement the extension of the Dunboyne/M3 Parkway line to Navan line during the Mid Term Review of the GDA transport strategy" and insert the words "A reappraisal of the extension of the Dunboyne/M3 Parkway line to Navan". The Minister did this following advice from the NTA in correspondence dated 24 July, advising that the inclusion of the line should be rejected and not included in the strategy. This was big news in Meath and at the time there was great anger in local media in the Meath Chronicleand LMFM, local radio. I seek appreciation of that today because when a public transport solution for a large urban area such as Navan is rejected while every other comparable town in the GDA and smaller ones have rail connectivity to the city centre, it causes great anger. Not only is the project being mothballed and rejected but we are down to using the term "reappraisal" in connection with the extension of the line to Navan. I would like the NTA's comment on that and advice on the assessment. Does Mr. Creegan agree that the figures have changed dramatically since then?

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