Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

All of the €75 million provided for transport projects under the jobs initiative was reallocated from existing funds within my Department's overall capital allocation as follows. Some €40 million savings on the national roads budget for 2011 had been provided for close-out payments on projects already completed and is not now required in 2011. Some €10 million savings came from Luas projects due to appropriate substitution by unused section 49 levies, €11 million savings came from purchases of equipment including the purchase of new buses now due for delivery in 2012 instead of 2011, €7 million savings due on allocations for metro north and the Marlborough Street bridge projects due to revised work programmes and delays, €7 million saving on allocations for contingency and for design and planning of public transport projects, amounting to €75 million. This was identified for reallocation following a detailed review by my Department of all capital allocations for 2011 in consultation with relevant agencies funded by my Department. The €75 million has now been allocated to shovel-ready labour-intensive transport projects, which will create approximately 1,000 jobs in 2011. Of the total, €60 million has been provided to local authorities to repair regional and local roads across Ireland damaged in the past two severe winters, along with €15 million for improvements to train stations, traffic management and smarter travel projects, mainly in cities and towns, to facilitate public transport users, pedestrians and cyclists.

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