James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The work undertaken by TII is quite positive. Mr. Peter Walsh and I have had our issues, a lot of them in the public domain, in these Houses in particular. TII has had very few issues with cost overruns. The projects undertaken have come in on budget. From the committee's point of view, today is really a listening exercise to hear from the Department what we can do to help to attract the additional capital the Department will need. The expenditure for 2022 is confirmed, and that is fine, but looking ahead to 2023, we will shortly enter another budgetary cycle, and it is important for us to get a good read of what we are able to do to assist when it comes to the provision of road infrastructure in particular.

Notwithstanding that, when it comes to rail infrastructure and the various metropolitan area transport strategies that have been put in place, the expenditure on those projects is very significant, especially when it comes to what is required in Cork and in Limerick. I will let Deputy O'Donnell address the latter, but I understand about €1.4 billion is needed in Cork, which is a very significant sum of money. What we have seen is an allocation of €184.7 million from the European Commission through the Covid relief funds, but where is the rest of the funding? When will it be allocated to allow the progression of the Cork metropolitan train strategy as part of the Cork metropolitan area transport, CMAT, plan? We are looking at the electrification of the lines, the tripling of capacity on them, the doubling of the frequency of the trains and the construction of, I think, four separate new platforms throughout east and north Cork and in Kent Station in Cork city. When it comes to funding certainty for those projects, does the Department yet have a vision or plan or anything to which it could refer to give us a steer as to what the expected completion timeline is for those works? The international economy is in a very shaky position. Borrowing is at an all-time low at the moment but I do not think that will be sustained into the next two or three years, so that situation will change, but I put that question about rail infrastructure in Cork to the witnesses.