Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)

It is about making sure this project happens and there is value for money. This is a project that has been mooted since my father's time in the eighties. We really need to make sure we are progressing. I know the Department is, but we have to make sure that we have public confidence in this project. We have a number of bodies that we do not have remit over; therefore, I think with metro it is essential that we do.

On subhead B4, public transport, 26% of the expenditure is under this heading. There is little information in the accounts as to the key projects. I would say the accounts are compliant but not particularly informative or transparent. Again, it is important that we can interrogate them properly to understand if we are getting value for money.

I will talk about the battery-electric train sets. It is my understanding that a framework agreement was signed in December 2021 between Iarnród Éireann and the provider for up to 750 carriages over ten years. There was an initial order in December 2021 for 95 cars, and a second order in December 2022 bringing us up to 185 carriages. However, there seems to be a lack of any subsequent orders notwithstanding that we have a framework for 750. Will the Department tell us when the next tranche of orders will be placed? I am conscious that with everything going well it is taking four years for deployment, but things are not going well, and it now looks like it will be six years, yet there has been a population explosion all the way up the northern commuter line. Under CSO projections that is going to continue.