Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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This is my first appearance before this committee. I look forward to working closely with the committee during my time in office. I welcome the opportunity to appear before the committee to brief it on issues that arose at the recent EU Transport Council, to update it on my priorities as Minister and give it a perspective on yesterday's budget announcement in respect of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

Within a few days of my appointment as Minister I was asked by way of parliamentary question to outline my priorities for the remainder of my term in office. I replied on the basis that I would take stock over the coming days and weeks of all aspects of the Department's functions and work before identifying any priorities over and above those in place before I took office. I said I would do so taking account of the Government's stated priorities, the general economic situation and my own consideration. I also stated that I looked forward to discussing these priorities with this committee first. With the permission of the Chairman, I will make a brief reference to them during my contribution.

Before doing so I will briefly summarise the outcomes of the EU Council of transport ministers. The Council met in Luxembourg on Wednesday, 8 October 2014, under the Italian Presidency of the European Union.

Vice President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport and mobility, represented the European Commission. Unfortunately, neither the Secretary General of the Department nor I were able to attend as the Council took place during the pre-budget negotiations on the Department’s Estimates for 2015. On the same day I was also required to be in the Seanad to present the Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014. For those reasons I decided to attend to Oireachtas duties and represent the Department on the negotiations on the budget. The Department was represented on that day by Mr. Ray O'Leary, assistant secretary, who accompanies me this morning.
In relation to the meeting itself, Members will have seen the agenda already. The Council adopted a general approachon a draft regulation on market access to port services and financial transparency of ports. The new rules are expected to promote fairer competition and reduce legal uncertainties, thereby encouraging efficient port services and investment in ports. Ireland welcomed the legislative basis being proposed, which is already in place in Ireland, but expressed regret that the proposal was not more ambitious while none the less supporting the compromise document.
The Council held a policy debateon two proposals under what is termed the 4th railway package to improve rail services in the European Union by opening the market for domestic passenger services and introducing proposals for stronger governance. Despite the Presidency and Commission ambition, most of the interventions from member states, including Ireland, either called for flexibility on the Commission proposals to take account of the specific characteristics in different member state markets or accepted the Commission objectives but expressed significant reservations on one or more major elements of the Commission proposals. In its conclusion, the Presidency said there is a lot of work to be done during the coming months towards the adoption of political guidelines on the package.
The Transport Council also considered proposals for what the European Commission calls remotely piloted aircraft systems, RPAS, or what we would call drones, and their future use in a civilian context in an airspace open to general traffic. These are defined as “any aircraft and its associated elements, other than a balloon, kite or small aircraft which is intended to be operated with no pilot on board”. Ireland supports the Commission’s communication published in April 2014 on opening the aviation market to the civil use of RPAS. Given developments in recent years in the technology of RPAS, the Commission considers it timely that consideration be given on how RPAS operations should be addressed in a policy framework which will enable the development of a commercial RPAS market.
In Ireland, the Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, has statutory responsibility for regulating safety standards in civil aviation, including RPAS. The IAA published its policy and national legislation on the use of RPAS in October 2012. RPAS are used for a variety of tasks in Ireland, including aerial photography and aerial survey. Additionally, the IAA has issued registered training facility approval to four organisations seeking to become involved in the commercial use of RPAS in Ireland.
In the discussion at Transport Council, most member states referenced concerns on safety, security and privacy issues, with many countries claiming that any regulations should be kept simple and risk-based with no need for specific data protection legislation required for drones.
The Council took note of a progress report on a proposed revision of the Single European Skyrules, aimed at speeding up the modernisation of EU air traffic management.

The Council also adopted a general approach on a draft directive on the cross-border exchange of information on road traffic offences. The Council considered the outcome of the informal ministerial meeting in Milan last month regarding the mid-term review of the Europe 2020 strategy. The Council focused on how TEN-T and infrastructural investment could help economic development and how investment could help growth and boost economies and employment.

Having reviewed the functions and ongoing work of the Department, the ministerial management board within the Department - this body comprises my Secretary General and assistant secretaries general as well as the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, and I - last month agreed a number of priorities for the Department over the remaining term of the Government. I will briefly set out what they are. In doing so, it does not take away from the importance of the many other necessary tasks that are ongoing within my Department as part of its statutory, regulatory, governance and other functions. The identified priorities will also be identified within the new departmental statement of strategy that is being developed and for which the views of the public and other interested parties have been invited.

The statement of Government priorities agreed in July 2014 has two priorities for which my Department has a lead role. These are the cross-city Luas project and the publication of a new tourism strategy. Regarding the former, I am pleased to report that the project is on target and within budget. The Railway Procurement Agency, RPA, is reviewing the tenders for the main infrastructure contract and I expect and look forward to being in a position to authorise the signature of the contract early in the new year. As members are aware, this is an important transport project for the city. When operational, it will deliver a further 10 million passenger journeys for the city each year, an incredible development on an already high level of use. Following testing, commissioning and trial runs, the line is expected to be operational by the end of 2017. The European Investment Bank, EIB, has shown its endorsement of the project by approving a loan of €150 million for it.

The second Government priority relevant to my Department is the publication of a new tourism policy. The purpose of the review is to develop a policy statement setting out the Government's priorities in terms of the contribution tourism is to make to national economic and social goals, how that contribution will be measured and in what manner tourism can make the best contribution. The policy will also support tourism in rural areas and, therefore, address and make a contribution to the sustainability of rural communities. A point that I often make in much of the necessary discussion that takes place about balanced economic development and regional development is that the tourism industry touches on every part of our country. I have long believed that it can make a powerful contribution to the objectives of balanced regional development. I am happy to report that, following a consultation process, the new policy is on target for publication by the end of the year.

I should mention one other priority contained in the Government's statement of priorities that the Ministers of State, Deputies Ann Phelan and Ring, and I regard as critical to the tourism strategy and sustainable jobs in rural communities, namely, the need to ensure that the new model of 21st century apprenticeships is implemented during 2015. This priority is important to the future sustainability of the tourism sector in particular. As a nation, we need to have structures in place to ensure the continuing availability of the right mix of skills and job opportunities to contribute to the growth and quality of our tourism services.

In addition to the Government priorities, I have identified a number of other priorities. There has been considerable progress in the development of the National Sports Campus at Abbotstown in recent years. New facilities opened in the past year include a national horse sport arena, a national modern pentathlon centre and a national diving training centre. A multi-sport synthetic pitch facility was also completed and opened to the public last December. On-site accommodation has been developed to allow athletes to live and train on campus.

In addition, the FAI and the GAA commenced work during the year on developing pitches for their sports at the campus.

Work is continuing on site, with further significant developments under way. I am pleased to say that stimulus funding was provided by Government this year to develop a headquarters for Special Olympics Ireland at the national sports campus. Planning permission has been sought and I look forward to seeing work commence on this project next year.

As members will be aware, a new national ports policy was published in March 2013. The core objective of the policy is to facilitate a competitive and effective market for maritime transport services. The national ports policy categorises the State commercial ports sector into ports of national significance tier 1; ports of national significance tier 2; and ports of regional significance.

The ports of national significance are Ireland's key international maritime gateways handling approximately 90% of all tonnage and are of significant importance in terms of our national competitiveness. The continued commercial development of the three ports of national significance is a key objective of national ports policy, and all three ports have master plans in place setting out their development plans over the next 30 years. Both Dublin and Cork have planning applications with An Bord Pleanála.

Last Friday at 5 a.m. I was very pleased to visit Dublin Port for more than four hours and to see at first hand the extraordinary work taking place there to meet the needs of our country and to hear an explanation of the impact of its planning application and development plans for the Alexandra Basin and beyond. Some members may already have done so but I urge all members to go to Dublin Port some day early in the morning to see the scale of activity under way. It brings home to one how vital it is to our city and country.

Some weeks ago I had the opportunity to see Cork Port in action. I visited Ringaskiddy port to see the plans under way there and the impact its development plan would have on the port and beyond. I look forward to visiting Shannon-Foynes and as many other ports as possible in the coming months because an important lesson I have learned in this role is that when we think of connectivity, the part of our national infrastructure that is key to our ability to get goods into and out of our country is our ports. To see how much of our petroleum needs are serviced out of Dublin Port alone brought home to me the importance of this piece of national infrastructure.

Members will also be aware that in line with national ports policy I am bringing forward a new harbours (amendment) Bill to allow for the transfer of control of Drogheda, Dún Laoghaire, Galway, New Ross and Wicklow ports to local authority control. The Bill will also improve the board appointment process to the ports through, for example, introducing mandatory skill sets. The committee recently returned its report on the general scheme of the Bill, which was very useful in highlighting a number of issues for consideration as we develop the Bill. In recent days my Department has received the members' observations with regard to the Bill. I look forward to considering them and engaging with members. I hope to publish the Bill by the end of the first quarter of 2015. I should make the point that the Vehicle Clamping Bill that is before the Seanad today, Committee Stage of which will be taken at 11.30 a.m., reflects and tries to take on board the input of the committee following its consideration of the heads of the Bill.

The Department embarked on the development of a new national aviation policy in December 2012. The last formal civil aviation policy was in 1994. Members will be aware of the huge changes that have taken place in the aviation sector since then. It is considered necessary to map out a policy framework to facilitate the continued growth and development of the sector in the medium term. There has been substantial public consultation to date that has informed the development of a new policy. It is intended to adopt and publish the new national aviation policy before the end of this year.

The next key priority for me is the broad theme of how we pay for transport services and infrastructure now and in the future. I accord equal weight to services and infrastructure and acknowledge the differing roles of the public and private sectors regarding each of them. A major example of this is the development of a strategic framework for investment in land transport. This work isbeingundertaken by my Department and is led by a high level steering group. It has drawn on national and international data and research, evidence from key stakeholders, and analysis and research both commissioned and carried out within the Department and its agencies.This work is wide-ranging and includes considering the link between economic growth and investment, establishing the cost of maintaining, managing and renewing land transport infrastructure and assets over time, and identifying future needs and where that demand will arise.
The evidence from these three key areas of work, along with an understanding of key transport and travel needs, consideration of the impact on travel demand of structural changes to the economy and how to manage demand, has provided the basis for a set of overall principles, proposed by the steering group, to guide investment decisions in transport over the longer term. This is intended to ensure that future investment decisions in the transport sector will prioritise the projects which will offer the greatest economic and social return for the resources that we can provide. A significant gap still exists between the funding allocation for land transport and the funding levels required to maintain the existing system in adequate condition, even if all of the available funding is spent only on the current steady state of affairs.
Road safety, as Members will be aware, is also one of my main priorities, along with a concentration on a significant reduction in the number of fatal collisions. On my first or second day in office I met a family who had lost their child in a road accident and collision. We have all been touched by the issue in our constituencies and personal lives. My meeting with the family brought home to me the impact of road collisions in terms of injuries and death. The meeting reinforced for me, at a human level, the tragedy involved and the need for us to continue to focus in on the implementation of the Road Safety Strategy 2013-2020. It was launched last year and contains 144 actions to improve on where things stand at present.
From a legislative perspective, we have published the Road Traffic Act 2014, passed earlier this year. It includes provision for further graduated driver licensing measures and increased sanctions for the most dangerous offences such as speeding and operating a mobile telephone while driving. In the coming weeks I shall chair a ministerial meeting to look at the implementation of the road safety strategy and all of the 144 actions. As important as new legislation is, I am always aware that we must focus on the implementation of existing legislation.
I shall conclude with some very brief observations on budget 2015 because I shall speak on this point in the Dáil later today. The most significant measures, from my perspective, are the retention of the 9% VAT rate, which has been welcomed by the domestic and international tourism section here in Ireland; the safeguarding of the public service obligation funding for public transport; the delivery of local, regional and national roads maintenance; and the new round of sports capital funding. The retention of the 9% rate has been welcomed by those who work in tourism. It is estimated that the employment in the 9% VAT category has increased by around 30,000 since the tax was first introduced. Three years later it is the contribution whose measure is still being felt and is constantly analysed by my Department.
I wish to emphasise that the tax code is replete with measures that were introduced to deliver specific objectives. One thing my Department has constantly done is evaluate the ongoing impact of the tax. The two measures that we will look at are as follows. First is the number of people who have been employed in the sector.

Second, we will constantly scrutinise the value for money perception among tourists to ensure all is being done to feed that lower VAT rate into competitive and sustainable pricing for the sector. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, touched on this point in his budget contribution yesterday.

We are seeing continued success in the sector this year. We have seen overseas visitor numbers increase by 9.4% in the first eight months of the year and the allocation for overseas tourism marketing in 2015 will allow the tourism agencies to undertake substantial marketing activities and help to ensure the upward momentum is maintained.

Investment in our public transport system is essential to keep pace with our growing economy. Targeted investment in our national, regional and local roads, the development of projects, such as the Luas cross-city, the maintenance of our roads network and the upgrading of our bus fleet are all central to this. In line with a commitment given to me in recent months, I am happy to say that in contrast to a trend of reducing PSO allocations in recent years, the level of PSO obligations for bus and rail services is being maintained at current levels, and next year at a level of €210 million.

In addition to public transport, we are also continuing to invest in our roads network. The overall capital allocation of €893 million for land transport in 2015 is broadly unchanged compared with 2014, with €50 million which was provided in 2014 in once-off stimulus funding being maintained in the budget for next year. A total of€598 million has been allocated for the maintenance and improvement of our national, regional and local roads, which is broadly unchanged compared with last year.

I am also pleased with the allocation of a further round of sports capital programme funding this year. This is the third round of funding under this Government and by my Department and it will provide opportunities for clubs and organisations around the country to apply for funds. I want to emphasise the value of this. I am aware, both personally and from my constituency, of the extraordinary contributions voluntary organisations make to our social life. I also want to praise the amazing contribution our professional athletes make, as it is important to do so, especially this morning. In the deployment of a third round of sports capital funding for next year, I want to give small organisations, in particular, the opportunity to ensure they have the right equipment and facilities for all of their members. Every Saturday morning throughout the country, we see young boys and girls having the opportunity to participate in sporting clubs which are, by and large, run on a voluntary basis. I want to ensure they have the opportunity give the very best of services they can to the young boys and girls participating in those clubs and in those matches at weekends and during the week.

I thank the Chairman and members for affording me the time to report on the outcome of the Transport Council and to set out my priorities for the transport, tourism and sport sectors. Since being appointed Minister in this Department, I have found the role to be very enjoyable. It is varied, interesting and very demanding. I am very privileged to have the opportunity to serve our country in this role and I will do my very best to ensure I can deliver. I enjoy all the challenges the role brings each day. The sectors are very different but they all play a crucial role in the daily lives of all the people we are privileged to represent while, at the same time, they contribute to employment and economic growth.

I look forward to answering any questions members may wish to ask. I have to be in the Seanad later this morning but I will do my best to respond to questions asked and I look forward to appearing before the committee again in the near future in regard to legislation or any matters members may wish to raise with me.