Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Kenny emphasised a point which I make also, which is the need to maintain a public investment programme even at a time when we have seen a severe downturn in performance in terms of the growth of the economy as an indication of the commitment of the Government to continue to put in place the building blocks that will enhance competitiveness, not only during these difficult times, but when the upturn comes in the global economy. The Government maintains its overall commitment to keep capital investment at between 5% and 6% of GNP during the current the national development plan. We have given priority to projects which have an economic return, which will allow us to continue to build upon the competitiveness building blocks of the economy.

We are near the end of the third year of the Transport 21 programme and strong progress has been made in the delivery of road and public transport projects. Some 37 projects have been completed since the beginning of Transport 21 in 2006 and a further 25 projects are underway. Some of the major achievements to date include progress on the major inter-urban routes connecting Dublin with the Border, Galway, Cork, Limerick and Waterford. These schemes are already open to the public and are on target for completion by 2010.

New inter-city rail cars have been introduced on the Dublin to Limerick, Dublin to Westport, Dublin to Waterford and Dublin to Galway lines. New carriages have been rolled out for the Dublin to Cork line, facilitating an hourly service in both directions. Several new railway stations have opened, namely, Docklands, Park West, Cherry Orchard and Clondalkin Fonthill. A state-of-the-art maintenance facility has been provided at Portlaoise train depot. Construction has begun on several key Transport 21 projects, including the Luas extension to the Docklands and Cherrywood, the Kildare route project and phase one of the western corridor project. There are issues of land acquisition and planning involved and the Railway Procurement Agency, RPA, has been very proactive with communities in that regard, particularly on public transport projects. Much progress is being made in this area and we continue to commit significant funds to these projects.

Regarding the third part of the Deputy's question, planning and preliminary work continues on projects not yet contracted. Decisions on whether we move on some of these projects as set out in Transport 21 is based on the detailed evaluation carried out as these projects were prepared and proceeded. We will make decisions on an ongoing basis at Cabinet depending on the full picture available at the time when these projects are ready to be considered. Overall, Transport 21 reflects a significant part of the public investment programme for the reasons outlined in Deputy Kenny's original question, which include competitiveness, moving goods and services to the market with the most efficient transport infrastructure we can provide, improving the quality of life especially in urban centres and trying to provide a modern public transport system to counteract historical under-investment in these areas. That is the update of the current situation.

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