Ms Niamh Callaghan:

The national development plan is the overarching framework for the transport sector but it also feeds into a sectoral strategy. The Chairman may be aware that the Department of Transport is finalising its future land transport investment programme, which includes various strategies to underpin plans for different cities, such as the greater Dublin area and the Cork metropolitan area, as well as the national roads strategy. Having key performance indicators in place at the level of those strategic plans, and how they feed into the overall framework and the NDP, is really critical for us and for the sectors over the coming period. A lot of specialist knowledge resides in the Department in terms of putting those strategies together and working with all the agencies, such as Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the National Transport Authority, on defining the metrics.