Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

If economic prosperity continues, people will continue to buy cars. We have a plan in place called Transport 21 and it is being implemented despite what Deputy O'Dowd says. We are moving ahead with all the public transport infrastructure, including metro north and the Luas lines, so progress is being made. However, we cannot just wave magic wands and produce new Luas or metro lines overnight. The Transport 21 programme is a ten-year plan up to 2015, which will provide additional public transport, but it cannot be done overnight. Neither I, Deputy O'Dowd nor anyone else can do anything more about that. Traffic management on national roads is a matter for the NRA, while other roads are dealt with by local authorities. It is not a matter in which I can directly intervene, although through Transport 21 and other policies I try to make it as easy as possible for everybody to implement. No rows have delayed the provision of public transport. The RPA and CIE difficulties have been resolved and the public transport section of Transport 21 is proceeding. It is not going as quickly as I would like but it is still within the timeline.

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