Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

——highlights the fact that it is going extremely well. As Deputies have rightly stated, a body like the proposed Dublin transport authority is needed to oversee transport matters in Dublin. Of course there is rivalry between the different agencies which are responsible for their own modes of transport — there is no doubt about that. The integrated ticketing project has not been as much of a success, for all sorts of reasons, as people on both sides of the argument would have wanted. That is a true statement. I have probably devoted more time to trying to sort out that issue than to anything else since I started to work in the Department of Transport. I hope we are about to reach a conclusion in that regard.

The functions of the proposed Dublin transport authority are not preventing the quick delivery of many projects, including the new railway station in the docklands area of Dublin, four Luas projects, metro north and all the different roads projects which are being started and opened on a weekly basis. Approximately two new roads are being opened each week throughout the country, including Dublin. There has not been any slow-down. I agree with Deputy Mitchell that the long-term view is that an independent regulatory body is needed to deal with a range of issues relating to the greater Dublin area. The proposed Dublin transport authority is that body.

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