Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

The NTA was before this committee and, obviously, my focus is Dublin West. It stated that its objective is to make what we have work. There are severe capacity issues in Dublin West, however. That was not helped by the fact that, over the last five years, in the previous term, there was an absolute lack of investment in capacity issues in Dublin West, both in existing services and areas where new housing has been built. I have been able, with the NTA, to secure an additional €700,000 this year for capacity issues in Dublin West but it is still not enough. The Minister of State mentioned earlier the underfunding in the last couple of years. We saw the “Prime Time” programme last night regarding the M50. We also see return to office mandates and an increase in congestion on our roads in the last couple of months. There is a major drive and interest in using public transport. Where does the Minister of State see all of this going?