Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

Significant investment in public transport has been undertaken in recent years which has facilitated major improvements in the safety of our transport systems and increased capacity on bus and rail networks. Work on three new Luas lines is currently under way as is work on the new commuter line in Cork, the first phase of the western rail corridor and the first phase of the Navan rail line from Clonsilla to Dunboyne. More than €500 million has been invested in railway safety under the second railway safety programme. Some €154 million has been spent on traffic management in the past three years and more than 500 new buses have been purchased for Dublin, provincial city and regional bus fleets. Significant progress is also continuing in the planning of major projects. The oral hearing on metro north commenced in April and Irish Rail is on target to lodge a railway order application for the DART underground later this year.

Transport 21 will continue to provide the guiding strategic framework for Government investment in public transport up to 2015. However, in light of the changed economic circumstances, it was necessary to review investment priorities across all Departments, including mine, and these priorities have been discussed with Department of Finance. The Exchequer allocation for public transport this year is €628 million plus a carryover of €40.5 million from last year. This will exceed the 2007 outturn of €640 million by 4%. In the current difficult financial circumstances, this is a major achievement.

As I have stated on previous occasions, the provision of increased capacity will be the key consideration in determining investment priorities. Given their potential to greatly increase capacity on the public transport network, Metro north and the DART underground are key projects. Investment in increased bus capacity and bus priority measures are also priorities. The bus-related investment will be guided by the Deloitte cost and efficiency review of the CIE bus companies and the availability of current funding for public service obligations.

The selection of projects and programmes will be also guided by the overarching priorities set out by the Minister for Finance for capital investment, namely, strengthening the productive capacity of the economy and sustaining employment. Further major Transport 21 capital projects currently at the planning and design stage will be released for construction as soon as they are through statutory procedures and the available financial resources permit, consistent with the priorities I have outlined.

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