Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 81 and 82 together.

I hope to submit proposals to Government shortly regarding the ten-year transport investment framework. I will publish details of the framework once it has been approved by the Government. Responsibility for entering into contractual commitments for the major public transport projects under the framework will be a matter for the implementing agencies and not directly for my Department. However, the framework will set out the annual global financial profiles and indicative timeframes for the implementation of major projects and the agencies will be expected to work within these parameters. The implementation of the projects will be spread over the ten-year lifetime of the framework, having regard to the state of preparedness of individual projects, their relative priority and the annual financial profiles.

The forecast increase in population in the greater Dublin area was considered. In developing the framework, my Department asked the Dublin Transportation Office to carry out transportation modelling on the impacts of a number of different scenarios to help assess the optimal mix of investments.

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