Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)

Welcome everyone and I thank the witnesses for giving up their time to be here. I have a couple of questions, so I might fire out the questions and if they get to them, they get to them, and if they do not, we will come back to them in the second round.

First, both the NTA and TII emphasised in their opening statements the MetroLink project and the expansion of the Luas. Do they have any guarantees today of what investment the likes of rural Ireland might see? Will it be as passionately prioritised as MetroLink and the Luas, considering we do not have light rail outside of Dublin?

Second, the witnesses highlighted the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund. How will rural communities benefit from the low-carbon transport investment, given the absence of light rail and metro outside of Dublin and Cork?

I will throw out one more question. Of the €676 million allocated to asset management in 2025, how much of that will directly benefit the rural and national roads where we have safety concerns and there are accident blackspots? Will there be an allocation outside of Dublin for these roads?