Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The overall roads programme in the existing national development plan, NDP, is very significant, with a huge variety of roads. Many of them may have been committed in the existing NDP without the funding necessarily being clearly available. We will have to face choices in the prioritisation of a variety of transport options because if we were to build everything that is in design or in various plans, the budget would be many multiples larger. The allocation has to be based on good transport principles, such as tackling the worst blackspots and keeping safety first and foremost. As I said earlier, they should be projects that help us deliver on the national planning framework and the national strategic objectives set out within that.

It will be both roads and public transport. The programme for Government commits to favouring public transport by a ratio of 2:1, having already allocated a percentage of the overall budget to active travel. There will be a switch in priority towards public transport and I am upfront about that, but it is not that we will be stopping the roads programme. Far from it, there will still be significant expenditure because I expect the capital envelope to be maintained, if not increased. At this time, we have a critical need for investment in transport infrastructure, so I expect that an enhanced budget will emerge from the NDP process that will see a variety of projects developed.