Mr. Ken Spratt:

Go raibh maith agaibh, a Chathaoirligh agus members of the committee. I thank the Chair and members for the invitation to discuss the 2024 appropriation account for Vote 31 - Transport, and two chapters from the Comptroller and Auditor General’s 2023 and 2024 reports on the accounts of the public services. I also thank the Comptroller and Auditor General and his office for their work in auditing the appropriation account and on the reports on the accounts of the public services.

The Department has grown significantly in recent years, reflecting the scale of the Department’s responsibilities and the need to address new challenges. By the end of 2024 the Department comprised a staff of 692, with 19 State agencies under the Department’s aegis. We have worked to strengthen our capacity to deliver on our remit and to ensure that our agencies have the resources to deliver on their key objectives.

The Department’s mission, as set out in our statement of strategy, is, "To deliver an accessible, efficient, safe and sustainable transport system that supports communities, households and businesses." In 2024, the Department secured an overall budget of €3.7 billion, comprising over €1 billion in current funding and €2.7 billion in capital funding. The Department also had a capital carryover of €141 million in 2024. A total of €38 million was surrendered at the year end with a further €115 million capital being carried into 2025.

Expenditure was managed across six programmes in the transport Vote. Programme A is sustainable mobility – active travel and greenways. The outturn of this programme was €402.2 million, which supported investment in national cycle right training, the NTA's smarter travel programme and bike week. It facilitated over 1,000 grants for cycling and walking to 31 local authorities, with over €370 million invested in hundreds of active travel and greenways projects across the country, including the North West Greenway Network, Lakelands to Boyne Valley and Midleton to Youghal greenways. The national cycle network plan was published in January 2024, while round 3 of the safe routes to schools programme was launched, adding 141 schools to the programme.

Programme B is sustainable mobility – carbon reduction and public transport, and had an outturn of €1.737 billion. There was strong growth in public transport passenger numbers throughout 2024 and in October public transport surpassed 1 million PSO passengers a day for the first time ever. Public transport networks were further expanded and improved, with 14 new and 28 enhanced Connecting Ireland services implemented in rural areas. Enhancements were introduced across the PSO network throughout 2024 and phase 6a of the BusConnects network redesign roll-out in Dublin commenced service in late September with the new orbital N2 route, operated by Go-Ahead Ireland. Over €900 million of public transport investment funding enabled construction, asset purchases and electrification of public transport fleet, and associated infrastructure in 2024, including progression of the Cork area commuter rail, fleet for BusConnects Dublin and other urban areas, bus depot electrification, next generation ticketing, park and ride facilities, the upgrading of Galway Ceannt Station and DART+ fleet, and the protection and renewal of the rail network to provide for a safe and secure rail system.

Programme C is road networks and road safety. It had an outturn of €1.372 billion which funded extensive investments in current and capital maintenance for the national, regional and local road networks. The Dunkettle interchange, Listowel bypass and N56 Dungloe to Glenties projects were completed. Preferred bidders for the Adare bypass and M28 Cork to Ringaskiddy projects were selected. Ongoing maintenance and improvement activities took place on the existing national roads network to ensure that it is safeguarded, with road safety being a top priority. A sum of €692 million was allocated to local authorities for the delivery of regional and local roads projects. This facilitated the rehabilitation and maintenance of 5,594 km of road and bridge projects, as well as the construction progression of larger NDP projects such as Shannon crossing, Killaloe bypass and the R494 road improvement in counties Clare and Tipperary, Coonagh to Knockalisheen distributor road in Limerick city, and the Tralee northern relief road in County Kerry. This programme also funded zero emission vehicles Ireland’s various schemes to incentivise the uptake of electric vehicles, EVs, home charging and public charging roll out.

Programme D is civil aviation. The outturn of €32.5 million under this programme continued to support Ireland’s smallest airports which provide connectivity and handle fewer than one million passengers per annum. A new regional State airports sustainability programme was published for Shannon Airport and Cork Airport, and includes support for two solar photovoltaic, PV, farm projects, which when complete will provide up to 25% of both airports' current electrical demand from renewable energy. There was continued support for Donegal to Dublin PSO air services, with the current contract extended to 2026. This targeted Exchequer funding has supported strong growth across our regional airports in 2024 with passenger numbers currently 7% above last year.

Programme E is maritime transport and safety. The outturn under this programme was €110.9 million and related to the Coast Guard, Irish Lights and maritime safety. Funding supported the Coast Guard search and rescue service as well as the activities of the 44 Coast Guard volunteer teams located around the coast. The Coast Guard responded to 2,556 incidents in 2024. Funding also supported ongoing investment in Coast Guard stations as well as lighthouses and other aids to navigation. In the maritime sector, the transition to the new Irish Coast Guard aviation service contract progressed with the transfer of the Shannon search and rescue base to the new contractor, Bristow Ireland Limited, during quarter 4 2024, and Weston in June of this year. The priority during the ongoing transition of the remaining two search and rescue bases of Sligo and Waterford remains the safe and effective transfer of operations without interruption to this essential State service. The expanded aviation service will significantly enhance the Coast Guard’s capabilities, including inland and maritime search and rescue, aeromedical support for the HSE, day and night time support for island communities, environmental monitoring and new aerial firefighting capacity.

Programme F is information technology, engagement and research delivery. The outturn was €47.8 million. Funding under this programme supported the delivery of a number of important services to the public by the Department, including the collection of motor tax and management of change of vehicle ownership requests, and some delivered by our agencies, in particular driver licensing by the Road Safety Authority. In 2024, we successfully processed 1.2 million transactions for change of vehicle ownership requests, marking an increase of 41,000 annually. Our new online change of vehicle ownership service was launched, which uses MyGovID for identity verification, enabling the seamless transfer of vehicle ownership for citizens.

We collected €928 million via motor tax online, an annual increase of 1.9%, processing 4.4 million motor tax transactions, an increase of nearly 180,000 year on year. In 2024, 87% of motor tax payment transactions were conducted online, highlighting our success in driving digital adoption and improving user experience. Over 8 million regulatory and customer supporting documents were issued, including over 4 million motor tax discs, 1 million vehicle registration certificates, penalty point notices, motor tax renewal notices, certificates of roadworthiness and certificates of vehicle destruction.

I welcome the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on vehicle taxation, chapter 21 of the 2024 report on the accounts of the public services. As I have noted, my Department collects almost €1 billion every year on behalf of the Exchequer. I am encouraged that the annual audits of the motor tax system by both the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Local Government Audit Service have been positive year on year.

Nearly nine in ten motor tax transactions take place on motortax.ie, which is many people’s only direct contact with my Department. We work closely with the local authority staff in the motor tax offices to provide a robust and user-friendly service, both online and offline. As Accounting Officer, I accepted the four recommendations of the Comptroller and Auditor General in the chapter and I have proposed timelines for implementation as soon as possible. I look forward to implementing the recommendations of the audit to further strengthen and enhance the service we provide to the public.

The Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the appraisal of rail project investments highlighted aspects of the various rules applied by the Government to the development of projects and noted differences in the approaches adopted in respect of two projects, namely, MetroLink and the Foynes freight line. As a Department, we are acutely conscious of the need to ensure good governance and appropriate accountability for the expenditure of the public moneys with which we are entrusted. We are also very aware of the need to strike the appropriate balance between delivery and process integrity. Challenges can and do arise in trying to strike that balance. We strive to avoid adding time and delay, a theme which has also been raised by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform’s accelerating infrastructure task force.

On the Foynes line project, having highlighted the processrequirements and how best to deliver within the process, we were given a ministerial decision and acted to implement that decision as efficiently as possible. Work on the project is continuing on-time and within budget. The project will fulfil Ireland’s legal obligation under the TEN-T regulation to connect the port of Foynes with the national rail network, complementing the investment planned in the Foynes to Limerick road infrastructure which has already started with the Adare bypass element under construction.

Significant progress was made in 2024 in supporting existing services; progressing major construction projects through various stages of planning; preparation; permitting and construction; and developing key strategies for new areas of investment and service delivery, such as strategic EV infrastructure. There is a strong continuity of investment and strategic direction from last year. The Department will be seeking to ensure we maintain the momentum we have built in delivering safe, secure and accessible transport networks that serve all our citizens’ needs.

Before I conclude, Chairman, I add that the brief is quite wide. I have four of my assistant secretary colleagues here today. With his permission and through the Chair, occasionally – and probably more than occasionally – I will be diverting some questions from members to some of my assistant secretaries, if that is acceptable to the Chair and committee.