Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I understand 22% of the overall budget is derived from motor tax receipts. The Minister may not be able to do so today, but I ask him to indicate the total amount generated in motor tax receipts on an annual basis. If only 22% is spent on the overall transport budget, 78% is diverted elsewhere, be it to Irish Water, health or education. Perhaps the Minister can clarify the situation.

Of the capital funding for this area for 2015, some €16 million was carried forward to 2016. Why was that at a time when there was a significant underinvestment in capital projects over the length and breadth of the country? The road maintenance figures show a decrease in the money allocated. When the Minister took office, it was widely reported in the national media that we needed some €500 million per annum just to maintain our road infrastructure, but the Department is allocating only 50% of what is needed. I am not talking about improving or enhancing the road infrastructure but maintaining it. Why are we reducing the money being invested in our roads, given these warnings? It is prudent to invest and not to let our roads deteriorate into such a condition that, in the long run, it will cost more money to bring them up to a safe and appropriate standard. I met a delegation of councillors from Monaghan recently. The road infrastructure is disintegrating, particularly our regional and local roads, and local authorities do not have the money even to repair potholes. It is quite worrying that we are reducing the amount of money we are allocating under this heading.

On public transport, we are all aware that there were Luas strikes recently. The Luas is operated by Transdev, a private operator, and the Department has no role in it, but in light of the fact that agreement has been reached for an incremental increase over coming years, is the Minister concerned that other unions in companies under the control of the Department, such as CIE, Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann, will submit requests for similar wage increases? Is the Minister confident that we have the capacity to deal with such an issue? If we do not have that capacity, we could be facing strikes in Dublin Bus and CIE in the autumn and winter. That would lead to significant inconveniencing of commuters who rely on those services on a daily basis.

Regarding road safety, we can see that the number of road deaths are on an upward trajectory. This is worrying and it is part of the Department's responsibility to ensure that the necessary legislation is put in place to enhance and improve road safety. One such piece of legislation is the Road Traffic Bill which would give gardaí, if we had enough of them in the traffic corps, the power to carry out random drug testing on the roadside. We had that on the Order Paper approximately three weeks ago and my understanding was that this necessary legislation would come before the Dáil before the summer recess. Is that still the case? If not, why not?