Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I wish to share time with my colleague, Deputy Andrews.

I welcome the opportunity to speak in the annual Estimates debate. The capital envelope for the Department of Transport is now framed by Transport 21 which will be rolled out in the next few years. The Estimate was agreed before Transport 21 was finalised and capital spending plans in the next few years will become evident when the five-year rolling capital programmes are announced by the Minister for Finance. The net Estimate of €2.18 billion is €15 million or 1% above the 2005 Estimate. The increase is due to an increase in current expenditure from €409 million in 2005 to €425 million in 2006.

The main capital expenditure items in 2006 will comprise a provision of €1.3 billion for the national roads programme which will see the commencement of work on 11 projects totalling 291 km. Among the projects to start will be the N3 — Clonee to Kells bypass, phase 2 of the M50 upgrade, the Waterford city bypass and phase 2 of the N6 — Kinnegad to Athlone. Next year will also see the completion of work on 14 projects, including the Dublin Port tunnel, the Naas Road upgrade and bypasses of Ashbourne, Cavan, Mullingar, Bundoran-Ballyshannon and Monaghan, as well as ongoing work on ten projects, including the N1 — Border to Dundalk, and the Ennis and Arklow-Gorey bypasses.

An amount of €435 million, an increase of 2% over 2005, has been allocated for implementation of the public transport investment programme which is part of Transport 21 and will provide the financial support needed to enable construction to begin in 2006 on the Luas extension to Cherrywood, on which I received the papers to appoint an inspector in the past week; the Kildare route four-tracking which will have a huge impact on our ability to electrify and create DART systems from the southside into the city centre; the new docklands rail station; the Cork commuter services development and the Portlaoise train care depot. In addition, planning and design work will be advanced on the DART line resignalling, phase 1 of the rail line to Navan as far as Dunboyne, phase 1 of the western rail corridor from Ennis to Athenry, the Luas docklands extension, the Luas cross-city link, the Luas Citywest extension and the metro.

I have made provision in the Estimates for the continued funding of the rural transport initiative, which is important for Deputies on all sides of the House. This service provides public transport services for people living in rural areas who otherwise would not have access to transport. A sum of €5 million has been set aside for this project in 2006 which will bring the overall funding commitment to more than €18 million to the end of 2006, which compares favourably with the total of €4.4 million provided for the rural transport initiative in the national development plan.

In advance of completion of the Dublin Bus network review which is due early in 2006, the House will be aware that I recently approved a request from the company for funding for 20 buses before the end of this year. This will provide an immediate injection of additional capacity for bus services in Dublin. Funding for 20 additional buses in Dublin is only the first element in the expansion of bus services. Officials of my Department have been in discussions with the bus companies and further meetings are planned in the coming weeks to discuss the further expansion of bus services in Dublin and provincial areas. I am committed to the continued development of quality bus corridors in Dublin and funding for these projects will continue in 2006, with funding for the bus priority measures in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.

My Department is committed to the comprehensive development of public transport services which are accessible to those with mobility impairments and has increased the 2006 allocation to €15 million from the €10 million provided in 2005. I have allocated €7 million to fund the move of the Medical Bureau of Road Safety. The MBRS is transferring from the Earlsfort Terrace campus of UCD, with the faculty of medicine and the academic section of the department of forensic medicine, to Belfield.

The 2006 Estimate of €425 million for net non-capital expenditure is 4% higher than the 2005 Estimate of €410 million. Among the main non-capital expenditure items in 2006 will be an amount of €299 million allocated for public service provision payments, up 5% on 2005. This will allow the continued support by my Department of transport companies in respect of their provision of socially necessary but non-commercial transport services. This sum also provides that, in addition to the 5% increase in public service payments to Dublin Bus for 2006, a further €1.7 million will be allocated to the company to meet the operational costs of the 20 additional buses to which I referred.

There is much more but all the detail is included in Transport 21. Many projects are under way, at various levels of planning and design, under construction or subject to planning. We will maintain a full focus on them in the years ahead.

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