Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute, however briefly, to the debate on the Estimates. It is timely that we should be discussing the transport Estimate when the number of calls to my office from people who are desperate regarding the level of congestion in Dublin city and other areas throughout the country continues to grow. People are at their wits' end because it takes them two hours to commute six or seven miles into Dublin city. Such commutes used to be occasional in nature, now they are a regular occurrence.

This debate is also timely because it coincides with the figures published today by the Dublin Transportation Office, which illustrate what we have already come to know through bitter experience, namely, that the level of traffic on the M50 increased by 11% in the past two years. Just when we thought that it would not be possible to fit 11 additional cars on the M50, we discover that the level of traffic has increased by 11%. The latter is occurring on a year-by-year basis, with no commensurate improvement in public transport. There has also been a 16% increase in the number of cars trying to cross the wall around the city that is the M50. When one considers that the M50 actually comprises the two major routes around the city, it is no wonder that people get up at 5 a.m. in order to try to make their short journeys to work.

To discuss the transport Estimate is really to discuss a fairy tale because the figures provided are purely notional. Last year's Estimate bears no resemblance to what happened on the ground. We have no reason to assume that this year will be any different.

There will be no improvement in public transport in the immediate future. The king of promises and press conferences, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, refers to things that will happen in 15 or 20 years time. There is nothing that will happen in the immediate future that will offer any relief. Each year the number of cars on our roads increases, while Dublin Bus carries fewer passengers than it used to during the morning peak hours. The number of cars crossing the canals is growing, squeezing an ever-increasing number of people into that small space. The increase in the subvention of 5% will not even cover inflation. This means there will be no increase in the number of passengers carried by Dublin Bus in the coming year.

At yet another press conference, the Minister promised that private buses would be introduced onto particular routes and that subventions would be paid in respect of them. Not only are there no private buses, there is no one in place to pay the subvention. The Dublin transportation authority was supposed to be established but money has not been provided in the Estimates to facilitate this. The authority has no board, chairman or budget at a time when the city is in chaos. There is no co-ordination and nothing is operating as it should. Even though Transport 21 was only introduced a year ago, slippage has already occurred.

There is nothing in the Estimates that will give relief in the short term to people living in our cities, particularly Dublin where conditions have reached an all-time low. The Estimates represent the worst possible Christmas present for Dubliners.

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