Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would like to echo Deputy McAuliffe’s comments in seeking to request that the NTA would come before us. It would be vital, if at all possible, that we would hear from it on this issue.

I will be brief. As is usual on a Thursday there are sometimes conflicting diary requirements. I want to seek reassurances in respect of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s special report 113 on procurement to vehicles by the Irish Coast Guard, that there is a clear matching up between the four recommendations that are aimed at strengthening. I am quoting from the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report that they are aimed, “at strengthening the Department’s procurement procedures for the future”. Can we be assured of the following for each of the recommendations for the strategic plan for equipment requirement: that all procurements of equipment should involve technical and user input at the planning stage; that all significant procurements should be based on formal assessment of operational needs; and that the Department would carry out regular reviews of its procurement procedures and processes? I want a short reassurance from the Secretary General that that is all now under way. The Secretary General states that the Department has strengthened its analytical tools for procurement analysis. I remain to be assured that we have a robust and fit-for-purpose system. Can the Secretary General give us those assurances? That is my first question.

I will ask three questions specifically and then I will take my leave. The second question is about national secondary routes.

Major construction projects begun in 2020 are under way. I believe strongly that there is a need for a policy intervention by the Department in respect of those national secondary routes that are in a deplorable state, such as the N73, in such a way that would ensure that TII, funds projects like that relating to the Mallow to Mitchelstown road. The latter is, arguably, one of the worst national secondary routes in the country, even though it is a vital artery for commercial and domestic traffic in the north Cork area and a vital route between Kerry and Dublin. I continue to make the case for funding for this road. I ask that the N73 project remain on the agenda, and I make no bones about raising the matter at this forum.

On the Leap card, the Secretary General informed us that "Year-on-year increases in fare revenue meant that PSO funding requirements were relatively stable." I am seeking to expand Leap card services in my county of Cork, specifically on routes between Mallow and Cork, where there a massive number of commuters on a daily basis and where there is still not a Leap card service, even though it could be argued that it is a viable route. I can travel from Bray to Pearse Station using a Leap card, but I cannot go from Mallow to Cork. There is an inequality between services on the eastern seaboard and those in the regions. I ask that, as a policy, the Department looks at the roll-out of Leap card services for the towns that service big cities, such as Cork. It is vitally important.