Cyprian Brady (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Roads in general play a large role in people's lives, not least in getting from one place to another in a safe and quick manner. After the 2002 general election, many of the functions for road traffic and safety were transferred from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to the Department of Transport. It makes sense to continue this process through this Bill. The purpose of this Bill is to provide for the transfer of certain functions connected with non-national roads and the national vehicle and driver file, NVDF, from the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to the Minister for Transport, as announced by the Taoiseach last June. The Bill also amends the Local Government Act 1998, to allow the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to make payments from the local government fund to the Minister for Transport in respect of non-national roads and the expenses incurred by maintaining the NVDF records following the transfer of functions.

Section 2 enables the Minister to make regulations in respect of the NVDF funding being transferred to him through amendment of the Roads Act 1920. Section 3 allows for the vesting of all ministerial consent provisions in respect of railway orders where the works involved are likely to affect public roads. I have experienced the serious effect that railway orders can have on a locality. It is right that the Department of Transport should be the lead Department in administering these orders. Section 4 is a standard provision.

It makes sense to transfer responsibility for non-national roads to the Department of Transport which is responsible for overall transport development. These measures will not affect the funding for non-national roads on which we will spend more than €600 million this year. That is the benchmark from which we will move forward. Anybody travelling around the country can see the benefits of investment over relatively few years. The national roads and motorways have made a significant difference to people's lives. That investment is guaranteed to continue.

The NVDF plays a significant role in motorist and pedestrian safety and is vital to road safety campaigns, in regulating drivers and vehicles. It is suitable to transfer responsibility for the 2.4 million registered vehicles and 2.5 million licensed drivers to the Department of Transport. Only five to seven years ago people queued for hours to renew their licences or tax their cars. The investment in technology and staff in the licensing and registration offices has paid dividends, making it possible to access these services on the Internet. It was difficult for people to have to queue for four or five hours at the then Dublin Corporation office and it cost money through loss of working hours.

The roads maintained by Dublin City Council, previously Dublin Corporation, in some of the suburbs in my constituency are in bad condition, because of the major increase in the volume of traffic. Traffic continues 24 hours a day, seven days a week as major shopping malls on the outskirts of the city remain open all that time. Sunday is probably one of the biggest shopping days in the week. This results in constant use which did not exist previously.

While the introduction of bus and bicycle lanes is welcome because they make a difference to the lives of commuters, some of their surfaces, particularly on the bicycle lanes do not last long. This is also due to the increase in traffic volume. This can be dangerous for cyclists when there is confusion as to where a cycle lane starts and stops. The Department could deal with this problem.

Many foreign registered cars have been imported in recent years causing problems for the Garda and other motorists which the Department must examine. Significant strides have been made in registering vehicles and licensing motorists but problems arise among motorists from outside the jurisdiction. In some cases the imported vehicles are in bad condition and are abandoned around the city. That causes major problems for communities because the cars are vandalised and sometimes set on fire.

Many roads in the old areas of the city were not made to take today's volume of traffic and have suffered greatly. There should be an audit of these secondary roads, some of which have become major roads because of development around the city. Improvements must be considered seriously, and be effected.

I congratulate Dublin City Council, which works closely with the Department of Transport, on developing roads in my constituency, particularly around Dorset and Parnell Streets. The Bill is welcome because it does not make sense for two different Departments to have responsibility for the road network.

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