Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)

I wish to share time with Deputies Clune and Crawford.

I welcome the Minister to the House and concur with my colleagues on this side of the House in their scepticism. We are handing part of a Department to the Department of Transport, run by the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, and this does not instil confidence regarding competence and future direction.

An array of experiences in the recent past also informs my personal scepticism. The Department of Transport has formulated great plans on paper, but, similar to Chelsea Football Club, on the field it is a different story and we need only look to Transport 21 for evidence of this. Even when Deputy Martin Cullen was Minister for Transport and I was a Member of the Seanad I asked parliamentary questions through my colleague, Deputy Dinny McGinley, regarding consultations with our colleagues across the Border seeking to bring about joined up thinking and joint strategies. This drew a blank because the harsh reality is Transport 21 is built on foundations of sand and does not go into the long-term strategic thinking needed for our roads.

There are regular announcements made regarding non-regional roads in the Border areas. Prior to the recent general election the Taoiseach flew to Letterkenny in a helicopter to announce that there will be a motorway from Dublin to Derry. That was a beautiful announcement when his party faced losing two of three seats in Donegal north-east and unfortunately it worked because Fianna Fáil held on to two of those seats. Fortunately I squeezed in.

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