Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

There is no question that there is a glaring deficit in north Dublin and it must be tackled immediately. There is no prevarication on my part on that issue. However, I am in a stronger position than having to concentrate only on that matter. The ten year envelope changes dramatically what I can recommend to the Government and what we can decide to do. We are focusing on Dublin in this debate but there are other huge issues with regard to the west and the midlands as well as Dublin. They are three big sections and each of them requires equal consideration.

However, the Deputy hit the nail on the head in referring to the interconnector. The issue I am trying to resolve is the connectivity of public transport. I referred to connecting the two Luas lines but what I was trying to illustrate was taken badly out of context. We can have interconnectors or metros and the existing or even expanded Luas lines as well as expanded bus corridors but the paying passenger must be able comfortably to use one mode of transport and switch to another mode. The question is whether it is easy, after getting off one mode of transport, to get on to the other mode of transport to travel somewhere else.

That type of connectivity is crucial. Regardless of whether one is talking about metros, interconnectors, the Luas, the DART or mainline rail services, all of them must be such that the user of public transport can be confident that wherever they embark on whatever mode of public transport he or she wishes to use, on leaving that mode of transport the passenger who wishes to travel from point B to point C can move to another mode of transport in a seamless way. If one travels into the city on the DART or by mainline rail, for example, one should be able to hop on the Luas or, if travelling to north Dublin, hop on to whatever service will be provided there. That is the challenge. One can continue to provide these services but I am anxious to get the best from all the proposals and much more than just the A to B element of them. I must ensure that the connectivity works and that it is seen to work by the public. However, I agree that north Dublin has a clear need.

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