Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications

EU Transport Council Meeting Briefing: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport

10:25 am

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm I will not cut the PSO further next year. In regard to drug testing, I look forward to engaging with the Deputy on the matter because how we measure this issue in terms of looking at samples and the technology involved is very sophisticated and complicated. How we move this forward will merit very careful scrutiny. I can discuss that further with the Deputy.

In regard to the Luas cross-city, I do not believe we have chaos in terms of its roll-out. However, I fully accept it is causing difficulty and we need to look at what we can do, in particular in the new year when more will be happening, to better communicate in advance to people what is happening and at how we can minimise, in any way possible, the disruption it is causing.

In regard to cross-Border road traffic issues, there are challenges in that area and the Deputy touched on one of them. Given that the nature of this kind of co-operation is cross-Border, we must have a kind of co-operation between the different laws in place in regard to it. I will have a North-South Ministerial Council meeting with the Ministers in that area in the North and I will raise this issue with them because they also have a great interest in the matter. I will look at how I can advance it.

There are some legal difficulties here. Given the Deputy's interest in this, I can either come back to him on it at another committee meeting or answer further questions on it on the Dáil. I will attend a North-South Ministerial Council meeting on this issue in early November, after which I will be able to give the Deputy a better read on where we stand.